Primeval
by Omega-Em-Z-01
Summary: Alliances seldom form right away. There's a process that involves a lot of trust, which isn't always easy. As the Autobots come to find out, an alliance between the New World and the Old World is one of the hardest. Post-Predacons Rising.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: The first paragraph is a little recap of what happened in the movie. **

Primeval

Chapter 1

Many cycles ago, Team Prime proved their strength in defending the newly restored Cybertron from the wrath of Unicron, the Chaos-Bringer. And with that, began a new generation of life by returning the Allspark to the planet's core, but at a cost. Optimus, the very last of the Primes, merged the Allspark's energy with the Matrix of Leadership and surrendered his body and spark to Primus, in order for new sparks to blossom. But Team Prime would never forget their beloved leader, and soon, the rest of the planet would know of his sacrifice.

* * *

Bumblebee watched as more refugees made their way through the landing port. He smiled a bit as he saw sparklings jumping up and down in excitement as they stared in awe of the huge buildings. It occurred to him that this was the first time any of them had ever actually seen Cybertron. Born off world, the closest they ever came to learning about their home world was through books and stories. Now, they would begin to experience the world for themselves.

A family walked past Bumblebee. The femme carried a tiny sparkling in her arms. He was bright orange with big blue optics and he held a little toy in his hand. He dropped it and started to cry. Bumblebee walked over and picked it up.

"Here you go, little guy," he said. The sparkling took it and giggled at him.

"Thank you," said his mother. They continued on to the registration center. There, everyone was receiving new living quarters in the reconstructed buildings. Everyday, more and more refugees made their way back to Cybertron. It was becoming a challenge for Bulkhead to keep up with the construction. Speaking of Bulkhead, Bumblebee needed to meet up with him for a report on the newer buildings.

He left the landing port and made his way back to their central base in Kaon. The former Decepticon capital was beginning to develop a more pleasant atmosphere now that the Autobots were in control and the giant statue of Megatron was destroyed.

As Bumblebee drove up, he saw Arcee standing with two other mechs. All three of them were laughing about something one of the mechs had said. Bumblebee drove up to them and transformed.

"Hey, Arcee."

"Bee," she said, "I'd like you to meet some old friends of mine. This is Jazz and Mirage."

He shook hands with the two mechs. He could tell Arcee knew them a long time. For as long as he knew her, Bumblebee had never really seen Arcee laugh. She, Jazz, and Mirage must have been very close.

"Arcee has told us that you've been running quite an operation here," Jazz said, "You're becoming quite the leader."

"Me?" Bumblebee said, "I'm no leader. Just a soldier trying to help these people out."

"Well, you doing a good job," said Mirage. Bumblebee smiled a little, "I'm actually looking for Bulkhead. Have you guys seen him?"

"I think he and Wheeljack are up in the command center," said Arcee.

"Thanks," Bumblebee said. He transformed and drove to the command center. It was nice to see some of his teammates finding some of their old friends. So far though, he hadn't really found anyone he knew. But he didn't worry. It was still early, and many more mechs and femmes would be coming.

Once he came close to the door, Bumblebee transformed and made way through the base by foot. In short time, he made it up to the command center. Sure enough, Bulkhead and Wheeljack were standing at the console, looking over construction plans.

"How is the layout for the new building coming, Bulk?" Bumblebee asked. Bulkhead turned to face him, "I wish I could say quicker. We've run into a bit of a problem."

"What do you mean?"

Bulkhead gestured to the console, "The only free area we have to build this thing is on an unstable cliff. If we tried to lay out any kind of foundation there, it'd cause a landslide. I've tried everything I know, 'Bee, but I just can't figure out how we're gonna fix this."

"There is one thing we could try," Wheeljack added, "I've seen a lot of places the 'Cons were able to pull off with the same problem. If we can copy their old designs, or even find the plans for them, we could get this done in no time."

"Alright," Bumblebee said, "Let's get it done. Where are the plans?"

"That's the other problem," Bulkhead explained, "The only place they could be is also the only place we can't get to. At least not without packin' in some blasters."

Bulkhead must have been joking! Unfortunately, the look on his face said otherwise. Bumblebee rolled his optics, "You've got to be kidding. Do you think you can clear another area in time for construction?"

Bulkhead shook his helm, "It'd take too long. With everyone coming in so fast, we can't afford to waste anymore time."

'Bee nodded, "Alright, I'll talk to Magnus."

* * *

In the medical bay, Ultra Magnus was still recovering from his injuries from fighting the Predacons. His condition had improved significantly since then, but Ratchet still needed to stay on Cybertron and see to it that his recovery went without incident. As Bumblebee walked in the med bay, he saw Ultra Magnus powered down on the berth. Ratchet was busy looking over his medical records.

"Hey, Ratchet," Bumblebee interrupted, "Are you busy?"

The old medic vented, "Not anymore. What is it?"

"Sorry. Is Ultra Magnus almost cleared for duty? We have a problem with the construction."

"It will be a few more cycles before he is, Bumblebee," Ratchet said, "You know this. And he will be far from ready to aid in any construction."

"No, not that kind of duty," Bumblebee explained, "Bulkhead found a flaw in the plans for the newest building. We know there are plans we can use to fix it, but the only remaining files are at Darkmount."

Ratchet looked up from his work, now fully listening. Bumblebee continued, "All we would need is for Ultra Magnus to negotiate with the Predacons to allow us to get in, find the plans, and get out quickly."

Ratchet looked back to Ultra Magnus, then rubbed his optics, "I can't disturb his power down now. When do you need the plans?"

"As soon as possible."

Ratchet thought for a moment, "Bumblebee, I believe this is a matter you can handle. You've shown exceptional leadership skills before, and the Predacons seem more ready to talk with you than they are anyone else."

Bumblebee's optics widened, "Me? I, uh… I don't really think I'm the mech who should be doing this. Ultra Magnus-"

"Ultra Magnus can't risk engaging in another fight with the Predacons. I am not asking you to lead on an army, Bumblebee, merely conduct a negotiation with our… neighbors."

"…I guess a new beginning on our planet means accepting changes and new responsibilities. Alright, Ratchet, I'll talk with Predaking on letting us into their territory."

Ratchet nodded and returned to his work. Bumblebee turned and walked out of the med bay. At the doorway, he turned and said, "It'd sure be nice if Optimus was still here to help us with all of this."

Ratchet stopped for a moment, "Yes, Bumblebee, it would be nice."

* * *

At the fortress at Darkmount, and for twenty-five miles in any direction, only three beings occupied that area. Since the defeat of Unicron, the Predacons returned to Darkmount and claimed it as their territory. They allowed no one to enter, but they did not, however, expand their ground. As an agreement made before they came, the Predacons would be left alone as long as they left the refugees alone. Predaking, Skylynx, and Darksteel all loved the idea. The only downside was that it limited their options for finding Energon.

Predaking watched over Darkmount from the throne. Skylynx and Darksteel were out searching for Energon. With luck, they would be able to find enough for the rotation, hopefully without the two fighting over the scraps. In a sense, Predaking finally had what he wanted. He was the king of his species, and no others would dare try to overthrow him.

In the middle of his thoughts, a communication was received and transmitted to the throne. All Predaking noticed was a flashing button on the armrest. He wasn't completely used to the technology around here, so he pressed it and the transmission came through. An image showing the yellow Autobot appeared before him.

"Your Highness," the Autobot bowed his helm slightly, "If I may have a moment, I wish to discuss some terms with you."

Predaking growled, "What more do we have to discuss? Our agreement is already set in stone. Do you have any idea how long it took me to ensure that my subjects would not hunt refugees for a meal? Any other changes to our contract, and everything that hasn't fallen apart here would!"

"Don't worry," the Autobot said, "I don't want to make changes. I just need a favor. We don't have the proper plans to lay down a foundation for a new building, and the only ones we know of are in the database at Darkmount. It would mean the most to the refugees and us if you allowed my colleagues to come to Darkmount, just long enough for us to get the plans and leave."

Predaking thought for a moment, "How do I know this isn't some sort of plot against me? Against what remains of my race?"

"You have my word, Predaking. We will come unarmed, if it pleases you."

"Hm… Very well, Autobot. I will allow you and two others in, on one condition. You bring us a full load of Energon."

"How much?"

"Enough for a decacycle."

A look of surprise appeared on the Autobot's face. After a brief moment, he nodded, "Alright. We'll come to Darkmount with the Energon at midday tomorrow. You have to make sure the other Predacons won't attack us."

Predaking nodded, "It will be done. Leave the Energon by the entrance of the fortress when you arrive. We will be watching you closely."

"I understand, your Majesty," said the Autobot, "Thank you for your consent."

He bowed his helm again and the transmission ended. Predaking leaned back. He didn't really like the idea of invaders in his territory. Perhaps that was just the basic animal instinct within him, but also, he didn't like any of the Autobots. At least they would get free Energon out of this.

It was quiet for a few minutes, then the sound of shouting came from the lower levels. It got louder and louder, and eventually it turned into roaring and screeching. Predaking growled in frustration. Skylynx and Darksteel were, yet again, behaving like complete sparklings. And, yet again, he needed to go and break them up.

Predaking stood up, started walking to the edge of the platform, and shouted, "WILL YOU TWO, FOR ONCE, SETTLE THINGS LIKE GROWN-UP MECHS?!"

He transformed into his beast mode and flew down to end the skirmish.

**Guess who's back! For those who keep up with my other stories, I'm sorry that I haven't updated those (in like six months). I've just had a bunch of stuff with school and it's been kinda overwhelming. I actually started writing this a few days after Predacons Rising came out (which I bought that very day). I'm hoping that I'll be able to write some more stuff soon. **

**So I hope you liked this first chapter. I don't know about all y'all, but there were some things in the movie that were a bit unresolved and that **_**really**_** bugged me. So, this is kinda my solution to all of that. Let me know what you think or things you'd maybe like to see. I'm all ears! **


	2. Chapter 2

Primeval

Chapter 2

"So, why exactly did you tell them we would be going unarmed again?"

Bumblebee vented as he, Arcee, and Smokescreen drove toward Darkmount. Smokescreen kept on asking endless questions, and it was starting to get on Bumblebee's nerves.

"Because," he explained, "It was the only way for Predaking to agree on letting us in."

"That and all the Energon," Arcee added. Bumblebee chuckled. They were almost to the edge of the Predacons' territory. Any minute now, Predaking would have eyes on them, if he hadn't already.

"Yeah, well, I don't like it," Smokescreen said, "I might as well paint 'free meal' on the back of my helm."

They finally crossed over into their territory. It was quiet, save the sound of their engines, and eerie. It looked almost as if no one lived here. As they drove on, Bumblebee noticed two dots in the sky. They were moving fast, but not directly towards them.

"Just keep driving," he told Arcee and Smokescreen, "He wants the Energon dropped off at the entrance. From there, we'll make our way to the archives."

"I'm guessing we won't be getting a welcoming committee?" Arcee said.

"I don't know. We'll just have to find out."

They kept driving until they came to the front of the fortress. The two dots were still tailing behind them, watching them closely. They stopped at the entrance and Arcee and Bumblebee transformed. Smokescreen had a trailer hooked behind him carrying the Energon. They unloaded all of it and Smokescreen transformed into his bipedal mode.

"I don't know if it's possible," he mentioned, "But this place actually looks worse than last time."

The entire place was gray, cluttered, and dead silent. The only noticeable sound were the wind blowing through the open chambers and the subtle churning of the smelting pit. If any living thing once dwelled here, they would've abandoned it long ago.

"Where are they?" Arcee said quietly.

"I would guess that the two behind us were Skylynx and Darksteel," Bumblebee said, "But I have no idea where Predaking could be."

They started walking toward the archives. It was so quiet that their footsteps echoed through the halls. Smokescreen looked around nervously, "You sure you can't call them, 'Bee? How do we know they won't pounce on us?"

Bumblebee looked back at him, "If you keep talking about how freaked out you are, then they might."

Smokescreen nodded, but kept looking around for them. They walked for about ten more minutes until they reached the archives. Bumblebee and Arcee went to the monitor to find the plans while Smokescreen kept watch.

"Aha, found it," Arcee said. She plugged in a transfer drive and started the download. While it uploaded, Bumblebee asked, "So 'Cee, any more of your friends come yet?"

She shook her helm, "No, just Jazz and Mirage. It's almost too much company for me. What about you? Seen any old friends?"

"Not yet. But I'm sure some will show up soon."

Arcee nodded, "What about you, Smokescreen?"

He looked over, "Huh? Oh yeah, a few came in last rotation. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They're twins. I first met them at the Elite Guard. You thought I acted childish before, just wait until you meet these guys."

There was a sound of something falling down the hall and Smokescreen jumped in surprise.

"Don't worry, scaredy-cat," Arcee said, "We're finished."

She pulled out the transfer drive and they turned to leave. When they got back to the entrance, the entire pile of Energon was gone.

"Looks like they helped themselves to that," Smokescreen said. Bumblebee turned back to the corridor.

"If you are listening, Predaking," he called out, "Thank you again."

There was no response. Bumblebee shrugged, "Let's head back to Kaon."

For a moment, he could have sworn to Primus he heard other voices echoing through the halls. They weren't the voices of the Predacons, he had already grown too used to those, and they sounded familiar. But as unexpectedly as they came, they also left.

Starscream had been lying in a miserable heap in the dungeons in Darkmount for days. His severe injuries left him defenseless against the Predacons, though he decided never to attempt to tussle with them again, if there were ever a chance to. Much of his Energon had leaked onto the ground and he was becoming weaker and weaker with every passing rotation. This past day he could feel his optics flickering from the last of Energon. In all his past experiences with beatings from Megatron, those never came close to the savage onslaught from the Predacons.

He had finally found a comfortable position with his back against the wall and his legs stretched out. His wings were nearly torn to shreds and he had deep gashes on his torso and arms. They had gone for his faceplate several times, attempting to claw his optics out. After many hours of endless torment, they dumped him in here, and he hadn't seen them since. Starscream almost wondered if they had forgotten about him, or if they had simply left him in here to die. Really, that sounded synonymous when he thought about it.

Pain shot through his wings again when he tried to reposition himself. He growled. He was almost tempted to end this himself, rather than be at the mercy of the Predacons once more. He had tried to do it several times before, but he could not bring himself to do it.

"Perhaps it is better for me to simply starve," he thought, "Whatever end comes for me, let it come. I no longer think that I deserve to live."

Starscream closed his optics and rested his head against the wall. He was just about to power down, then he heard footsteps quietly making their way through the dungeons. He froze in fear. They steadily grew louder, and he could feel the ground shake slightly. His spark pounded with fear. They were coming back for him!

Starscream shrieked when the cell door opened and he saw Darksteel's beast form. He tried to squeeze himself in a corner. Darksteel lunged at him and grabbed his pede with his maw.

"No, no! Leave me alone!" Starscream clawed at the floor as he was dragged away. Darksteel pulled him from the dungeons up to the throne room, where Skylynx and Predaking were waiting patiently. He tossed Starscream in front of Predaking, and then went off to the side. Starscream looked up helplessly at Predaking, who simply smirked.

"Are you enjoying your stay here?" he said, "Unless you want to spend your remaining hours on this planet in anguish, you will tell me what I want to know."

Starscream laughed nervously, "I-uh would be obliged to offer whatever it is you want… Your Royal Highness."

As if he struck some nerve, Predaking rose from the throne, walked over to Starscream, and held him up by the throat. Starscream gasped; he could feel the Energon circulation to his neural processor diminishing, at least what was left of it.

"You worked closely with Shockwave for solar cycles. Where would he be at this time?"

"I-I thought he perished!"

"No. Shockwave lives."

"Then he-he would be in one of his laboratories."

"You speak falsely. Skylynx and Darksteel have searched the laboratories and there was no sign of him!"

"He had more! Far more than the ones they saw! They're all across Cybertron!"

"Where?!" Predaking roared.

"I don't know! I don't know! He never revealed their locations until we had to relocate!"

"Lies!" Predaking threw Starscream to the ground. Part of Starscream's wing actually broke off as he did. Starscream cried out in pain and gripped his tattered wing. Predaking kicked Starscream in the chest and he flew back. He looked up pleadingly.

"I swear, I swear I don't know. If I knew, then I'd tell you. But I don't! Please, spare me! I beg of you!"

Predaking's yellow optics narrowed at Starscream's crumpled form. He knew the Decepticon was a rat, but he was telling the truth, for once. Without another word, he turned his back and returned to the throne. With the motion of his hand, Skylynx and Darksteel transformed into their bipedal forms and went over to Starscream, pulling him up to his pedes.

"I believe you, Starscream," he said, "As an extension of my gratitude, I will end your suffering. Send him into the smelting pit!"

Using Earth time, it took probably about an hour to travel from Kaon to Darkmount, and another hour to travel back. Bumblebee, Arcee, and Smokescreen were about ten minutes away from returning to Kaon. From where they were, they could already see the central building of the capital.

"So, what happens now that we've got the plans?" Smokescreen asked.

"We get them to Bulkhead to he can finish up the newest building," Bumblebee answered, "Hopefully quickly."

"Certainly hope we won't have to go back to that jungle," Arcee added. Bumblebee and Smokescreen laughed, but were interrupted by a transmission.

"'Bee," it was Bulkhead, "You guys almost back?"

"Yeah, we have the blueprints."

"That's great and all, but we have a bigger problem over here."

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently the Predacons broken the truce. They attacked one of the residence buildings."

"That's impossible," Arcee said, "We saw them at Darkmount. They were watching us."

"I'm only reporting what I've heard. Just get here quick."

Bumblebee, Arcee, and Smokescreen sped up, arriving at Kaon in eight minutes instead of ten. Outside the central building, angry mechs and femmes surrounded the entrance, shouting and protesting against the Predacons.

"Animals!" "Traitors!" "Down with the Predacons!" "Kill them! Kill them all!"

They had to push their way through to get inside. After they got through the angry mob, they made their way to the command center, where they found Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and a now fully awake Ultra Magnus examining the monitor.

"Blueprints, Bulk," Bumblebee said as he handed them to him, "What's going on?"

"We received footage of two Predacons attacking Residence 11A about a half hour ago," Ultra Magnus said, "Two casualties, several more injured. They completely destroyed the right wing of the building."

The monitor showed video footage of the attack. Smoke and fire emitted from the building, and debris was scattered everywhere and falling from the structure. But through all the wreckage and smoke, two dragon-like forms could be seen, though they were extremely vague. They shot fire at everything they saw move. After a while, they gave up and flew from the scene.

"Whoa," Wheeljack said, "They really know how to do some damage."

"But why would they break the treaty?" Smokescreen said, "We just brought them an aft-load of Energon."

"Could it have actually been them?" Arcee asked.

"How could it not?" Wheeljack said.

"They would've had to be far ahead of us in order to attack. And we saw them at Darkmount. Even if it was them, they would've taken the same route to get back, and we didn't see them on the way back here."

"They may be dumb," Bulkhead mentioned, "But not dumb enough to take a route where they would be seen."

"We must assume the worst," Ultra Magnus said, "That the Predacons have broken the agreement, and are responsible for civilian deaths."

"Could we at least try and find some more evidence?" Bumblebee asked, "I don't want to go around accusing someone if they didn't do it. Guilty until proven innocent."

Ultra Magnus thought for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, Bumblebee. You will lead the investigation and find out what is going on."

"You can count on us, sir," Bumblebee said. He, Arcee, and Smokescreen turned to leave. Just before they left the room, Ultra Magnus said, "And I suggest you find results quickly. If this gets out of hand, we could have a lot more problems than just Predacons."

**I think I'm speaking for a lot of people when I say this, but you can't just kill off a character like Starscream as it was implied in the movie. There's not really an explanation for it, you just can't. **

**So my plan to have the next chapter out sooner… kinda failed. So sorry about that. But it came, so that's gotta count for something, right? I'm not really sure when I'll have the next chapter out. End of the year and everything, it starts to get a little crazy. But school's ending and my birthday's in a week and I'M SO EXCITED! Maybe with summer comes an aft-load of inspiration (along with time :) Leave a review! **


	3. Chapter 3

Primeval

Chapter 3

"Noooo!"

The heat from the smelting pit was so intense that Starscream felt as though he had already been thrown in. His optics widened when he saw the glow coming from the smoldering metal. When they reached the edge of the platform, Skylynx and Darksteel shoved him to the edge. Starscream wobbled and held his arms out to keep his balance. He tilted again and started leaning toward the edge. Before he could fall, he felt a clawed hand grip the base of his good wing, keeping him from falling in. His form was rigid as he stared down at the molten metal.

"Anything to say before you go for a swim?" he heard Skylynx say. Starscream stuttered, "I-I could still b-be of some service to you!" Oh, Primus, please! Give me one more chance!"

Darksteel let out a raspy laugh, "Predaking already asked you where Shockwave was and you didn't know. It's funny when he tries to beg."

"It is rather amusing," Skylynx said. He whipped Starscream around, gripped him by the helm, and held him over the platform.

"Wait!" Starscream yelled before he dropped him in. Skylynx eyed him suspiciously. Starscream tried to speak calmly, "I could… I could track Shockwave down for you. I know why you want him. You want him to create more Predacons, right? You-you remember the one at the old lab, correct? It would be fully grown by now, I promise! Give me the chance, and I will find him."

Skylynx narrowed his optics, "You'd sooner get as far away as possible from here than help us."

"Can't we just eat him, Skylynx?" Darksteel begged.

"If it were my decision, Darksteel, he would be served on a silver platter. But as faithful servants, we must obey our king's orders."

Without another word, Skylynx released his grip and allowed Starscream to fall. As the seeker plummeted towards his doom, he watched the two Predacons turn tail and disappear. They were not interested to watch him die.

Starscream shrieked as he fell closer and closer to the molten metal. Without really thinking, he transformed into his jet mode. Just before he could get melted into scrap metal, his engines ignited and he was able to fly to and land at the edge of the pit. Crashing is a more proper word than landing. His damaged wing took a hard hit to the ground, and his underbelly burned from the friction.

"Ah, scrap!" he groaned. He transformed back into his bipedal mode and stopped a moment to regain himself. It was good to know that he still possessed transformation capabilities, albeit agonizing at best. He looked up at the platform's edge. Skylynx and Darksteel weren't there. They hadn't seen him escape. Starscream chuckled.

"The mindless brutes," he said to himself. His bad wing twitched and he winced from the pain. He couldn't imagine why the Predacons would come back here, but if he stayed, they would find him and things would be much worse than before.

Starscream looked out on the Predacons' territory. He had no idea how far it stretched out, but he could probably make it at least to the borders of Kaon. Grinding his denta, he stood up, transformed back into a jet, and flew off into the wind.

"Shockwave," he thought to himself, "You will have much explaining to do when I find you."

* * *

The medical institution was almost completely filled with patients from the fire. Many had severe metal burns, while others were injured from shrapnel and heavy boulders that had fallen. It was enough to keep both Knock Out and Ratchet busy.

"Look, we've got a lot here that we need to manage," Knock Out told Bumblebee, "I don't have room or time for you to play Sherlock Holmes."

"C'mon, Knock Out," Bumblebee said, "They're the only ones who could've actually gotten a look at the Predacons. At least let us talk to someone who made it out alright."

"When I find one, I'll let you know," Knock Out turned his back and went back into the med bay. Bumblebee groaned and followed him. He caught up and grabbed Knock Out by the shoulder. Knock Out whipped around and smacked his servo away.

"Careful!" he snapped, "Do you know how hard it is to get Carnubil wax these days?"

"Just a few nanocycles with one or two people. That's all I'm asking. Knock Out, those Predacons are still out there, and we won't be able to find them soon enough if you don't let us investigate."

Knock Out thought for a moment, then vented, "Fine, fine. I'll find someone who's willing to talk with you. Come back in, let's say, a breem."

"Thanks, Knock Out," Bumblebee said. Knock Out shrugged, and then walked away to care for the patients.

* * *

"It's like they came out of nowhere. They just smashed through the wall and the next thing you know, they're spittin' fire everywhere. I wasn't as close to the wall as some others. Everyone was afraid that it was 'Cons, but once they actually stepped into the building, we could tell that no 'Cons were behind this."

Bumblebee and Arcee listened carefully to the old bot's story. His servo had nearly been sliced off in the attack, but he was as spry as ever and remembered every detail.

"So, you recall what the Predacons looked like?" Arcee asked him. The old bot nodded, "You bet. If I still had my cannons, I woulda aimed right into each of their ugly yellow optics."

"Do you recognize any of these three?" Bumblebee handed him a data pad with diagrams of Predaking, Skylynx, and Darksteel in their beast forms. The old bot took it and looked at it carefully.

"Unless you play mix 'n' match, it was none of these guys."

Bumblebee frowned, "Are you sure?"

"My optics haven't malfunctioned yet," the old bot snapped. He pointed at Predaking's beast mode, "Size wise, the big one was almost his length and built, but his wings were smaller like the other two. Black and red all over. The little one wasn't even close. She was about half the big one's length."

"She?" Arcee asked.

"Yup, if I had to guess. She was small, but quick. She may have had a small frame, but her wingspan was huge. About the same as this Predaking's. Had more of a light brown and blue design."

Bumblebee took the data pad from the old bot, "Thank you for your help, mister…?"

"Kup," said the old bot, "Call me Kup. You find those glitches and make sure they pay for what they've done."

"Will do, Kup," Bumblebee and Arcee left the med bay. On their way out, Arcee said, "We should start looking at the damage. Try and look for… I don't know."

"Paw prints?" Bumblebee suggested. Arcee smiled, Maybe. The hard part is gonna be what to do after that."

"Let's see what we can find first. Smokescreen is already over there talking to Inferno. Hopefully, he's found something."

"Was it just me, or did Kup seem like a mech would complain about stuff you missed if you tried to repair him?"

Bumblebee chuckled, "Yeah, he did have that kind of attitude."

* * *

When they arrived at the demolished building, laborers were already moving out some of the large chucks of stone and metal. The place looked like a warzone. Scorch marks covered the walls and the floor and bits of metal were scattered everywhere, some still smoldering a bit. Bumblebee and Arcee drove up to Smokescreen and a red Autobot he was talking to. They transformed and Bumblebee said, "Inferno, good to see you."

"Likewise, Bumblebee."

"Ol' Red told me that they couldn't find anything on the Predacons," Smokescreen said, "If we didn't have the video or witnesses, he says this could've just been a regular, bad fire."

"Well, there may not be evidence of their whereabouts," Inferno said, "But the damage they left does show a bit of their intelligence. Before they flew out, it looks like they tried burning up the floor. It erased all of their tracks, and most other indication that they were ever here. My guess is that they wanted it to look like a freak accident. They probably didn't know there was a camera in the corner."

"Hard to believe a tiny camera survived all this," Arcee commented. Inferno nodded, "It is. Your friend is right, 'Bee. Other than what I've told you, I've just got nothing else to offer."

Bumblebee nodded, "That's fine. Keep us updated if you find anything new."

"Make sure those beasts get slagged," Inferno said. He went back to work and Bumblebee, Arcee, and Smokescreen talked privately.

"So, was it them?" Smokescreen asked. Arcee shook her helm, "Witnesses couldn't match them with what they saw."

Smokescreen slumped his shoulders, "Oh, great. More Predacons. So, what's the game plan?"

"We'll have to talk it over with Magnus," Bumblebee said, "But it's probably be best to send out scout patrols to different quadrants on Cybertron. It's a start, at least."

"I can round up some buddies. Now that everybody's back, we'll have more of a fighting chance against them."

"I think we need to be careful about who we choose," Arcee said, "If someone gets the bright idea to go and confront Predaking, we could be dealing with another kind of war."

* * *

The Energon the Autobots had brought was rich and filling, much better than the scraps they were forced to scavenge for before. As he examined his cube, Predaking wondered how they were able to find so much of it, when they found so little. It might have had something to do with the territory limit.

Predaking was curled up in his beast mode in the throne room. His Energon cube was sitting right next to his nose, but he hadn't yet begun to consume it. He thought it unfair that the Autobots had access to all of this Energon. They were probably just better at finding it than they were. Regardless, the Energon the yellow Autobot brought them would not last forever. If they were going to survive as an independent species, then they needed to start collecting their own supply.

He snatched the cube in his maw and gobbled it down. It tasted delicious. He was just about to curl up for a nap when Skylynx and Darksteel came flying in from the sky. As soon as they landed, Skylynx transformed into his bipedal mode.

"My apologies," he bowed, "But there is a group of intruders on our borders. They make their way into our land as we speak."

Predaking's optics narrowed. He stood up and went over to the platform of the room. Even from this great distance, he could easily see four or five Cybertronians marching toward Darkmount. A growl rumbled in his throat.

Skylynx stepped beside him, "What is your command?"

Predaking transformed into his bipedal mode, "We shall see what it is they want. I want to know why they dare come here."

"And what if they attack?"

"… Then let them know the wrath of the Predacon race. But leave them alive."

The three of them transformed into their beast modes and flew toward the intruders. As a warning, Predaking let out a deafening roar. It did little to affect the intruders' attention. When they came closer, one of the intruders shouted, "Now! Open fire!"

The intruders fired their blasters at the Predacons. They dodged the blaster bolts in the air and landed on the ground charging. The intruders kept firing their blasters. Predaking spewed fire at them, causing them to scatter from their group. One of them was caught in the fire, and he lay on the ground in agony from his partially melted leg. Darksteel and Skylynx transformed into their robot modes and each attacked two intruders. Predaking faced the last one, who seemed to be the leader. He was red with orange flame designs all over. It seemed to match his mood well, because he transformed his servo into a sword and charged at Predaking with a yell.

Predaking whipped his tail at the young bot. He jumped over it and slashed his sword at Predaking's faceplate. It grinded against the metal and Predaking growled in fury. He swiped his claws and knocked the young bot off to the side. The bot groaned and tried to stand up. Predaking transformed into his robot mode and looked back at Skylynx and Darksteel. They had already subdued the other intruders. He turned and went over to the flame-covered bot. When he saw Predaking approaching, he tried to scramble up to his pedes.

"Get away from me!" he shouted. Predaking ignored him and lifted him up by the base of the neck.

"Hey!" The young bot kicked and tried to pry away Predaking's servo. Predaking stared at him hatefully in the optics, "Who do you think you are to attack me in my own land?!"

The young bot groaned, "I think I'm one who finally has the courage to stand up to you mindless monsters!"

"Mindless?" Predaking exclaimed, "Mindless?! You know not whom you quarrel with! I am the King of the Beasts, Ruler of the Predacons, and Lord of the Ancient World! I am Predaking!"

**And of course someone goes and ruins the whole thing for everyone! **

**Thank you to those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. Your love is much appreciated. I'm getting pretty excited with this story myself. The first half of this I kinda wrote during school, so that's helped my inspiration a lot. I know I've had some people who have asked about my other stories and whatnot. But I have to say, my inspiration for A Change of Spark is kaput and Heart of a Warrior is near kaput. This story's pretty kaput-less, so there's some happiness there. Leave a review and push back the kaput-ocity! **


	4. Chapter 4

Primeval

Chapter 4

In the halls of the Kaon command center, it was mostly quiet, save a few who were making their way out of the building. The one exception was a young Autobot running as fast as he could to the central command. He was venting hard as he tried to find it. He slowed down for a moment and stopped a nearby passerby.

"Excuse me…" he gasped, "Where do I find… central command?"

The passerby pointed in the direction where it was and the Autobot took off. When he finally made it, he heard voices talking.

"Very well, soldier. We shall begin assigning scouting units with those already at our disposal. And for that, we must strengthen the security around the city."

"Thank you, sir."

The Autobot waited for a moment, and then stepped into the room. Immediately, he recognized the Autobots Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee. He knocked on the side of the doorframe, "Excuse me?"

They turned and saw him. He immediately stood at attention, "Sir."

"At ease, soldier," Ultra Magnus sais, "What news do you bring?"

The Autobot relaxed, "Sir… I believe… I believe that some of my friends have gone after the Predacons."

The entire room fell silent. Bumblebee stepped toward him, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, sir, ever since they attacked that home building, my friends were talking about going over and teaching them a lesson. I never thought they would actually go and do it. The last time I saw them was a few cycles ago. I was looking for them and starting to get worried. When I asked some others where they were, they told me that they went driving off somewhere, and hadn't yet returned. I assumed the worse, and came running here."

"What is your designation?"

"Bluestreak, sir."

"And you saw them when exactly?"

"Two cycles ago."

Bumblebee turned to Arcee, "Two cycles. We were at the medical bay at that time, right?"

Arcee nodded, "Kid, we need you to tell us everything you know. Your friends could be in real danger."

"Yeah, sure," Bluestreak said, "I tried to get them to scrap the idea. I kept telling them it was crazy. But they wouldn't listen to me. Are they gonna get in trouble?"

"That all amounts to what they're planning to do."

"If these Autobots took it upon themselves to engage the Predacons," Ultra Magnus said, "Then we must locate them immediately. There is no telling what damage they may have already caused."

"But, the Predacons attacked us first. Wouldn't it be more justified to send in backup for them?" Bluestreak asked.

Bumblebee Arcee, Ultra Magnus, and Bulkhead all looked at each other.

"Should we tell him?" asked Bulkhead. Ultra Magnus turned to Bluestreak, "The Predacons residing at Darkmount were not responsible for the attack."

Bluestreak's optics widened, "What? But… they attacked civilians. It was clear to everyone that it was the Predacons."

"Indeed it was Predacons, but we believe that new ones have emerged somehow, ones who are not aligned with Predaking."

"Oh, Primus. You have to find them, sir. They're gonna get themselves killed!"

"Take it easy, kid," Bulkhead reassured, "We'll find them."

Bluestreak nodded. At that moment, a transmission came through on the monitor.

"Bulk," it was Wheeljack, "I suggest you send shoulder pads and the others down to the courtyard, pronto."

"What is it?" Bulkhead asked.

"Predaking," said Wheeljack, "And it looks like he's brought us a welcoming present."

Everyone looked over at Bluestreak. His spark started to sink, "Oh, no."

* * *

In the courtyard, Wheeljack watched through a pair of binoculars as the three Predacons, Predaking leading in front, descended from the skies. He heard the other drive up behind him and transform. Each Predacon carried two crumpled Cybertronian forms in their claws. Before they landed, they dropped all six on the ground. They then backed up a few feet and landed on the ground. The six groaned and struggled to their pedes. Predaking transformed into his robot mode enraged.

"What is the meaning of this, Autobots?!" Predaking shouted, "We followed the pact you proposed, kept to our borders, and allowed you passage into our land for information! And this is how you repay us? By sending assassins to exterminate us?!"

Bluestreak went over to help his friends, but Skylynx and Darksteel shrieked at him. He jumped back in surprise.

"Predaking," said Ultra Magnus, "You must understand, these were their own actions. We did not instruct them to attack you."

"If what you are saying is the truth, then why did they attack us?"

"I believe it will be best if we discuss this inside."

Predaking growled and looked to Skylynx and Darksteel, then turned back to Ultra Magnus.

"Very well, Autobot. There had better be a justified explanation for this."

Predaking walked with Ultra Magnus into the capitol building. Darksteel and Skylynx trailed right behind them. Whilst they ventured inside, everyone else helped the six injured Autobots up. Bluestreak went right over to a young red bot with orange flames. As he helped him up, he said, "You glitch-heads, all of you. I told you that you shouldn't have gone."

The young bot looked at him, "What choice did we have, Bluestreak? It was us or them."

"Get them to the med bay," Bumblebee said, "Then I believe we need to have a talk."

* * *

After they treated his injuries, which weren't as serious as the others, they brought the young bot down to the detention center. He remained quiet most of the time, except to talk to his teammates to make sure they were okay. After a couple of cycles, they had him brought down to an interrogation room.

"I don't like this," Bumblebee said, "He's just a kid. He's younger than me, and we're treating him like a criminal."

"In a sense, he is," Bulkhead said.

"Bulkhead's right," Arcee said, "He was the first to violate the treaty and consciously led an attack against the Predacons. But you're right. It' doesn't seem right to treat him like that."

Bumblebee looked at the security footage of the young bot in the interrogation room. He looked alone and small. He vented, "Let's get this over with."

They went into the room. The young bot looked up and shifted in his seat. He was nervous, and everyone could easily tell. Arcee sat down in front of him and looked at him straight in the optics. The young bot look down at the table.

"You got in quite a bit of scrap today, didn't you?" said Arcee.

"Yes, ma'am," said the young bot.

"What's your name?"

"Hot Rod, ma'am."

"More like Hot Head, based on what I've seen. Are you aware of the kind of trouble you've caused? Not just for us, but for every Cybertronian that is presently here?"

Hot Rod looked up, "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. It's just… we can't let the Predacons do that to anyone again! If we don't show them we mean business, then they're gonna keep attacking us and grow stronger and stronger! They're gonna over run us someday, when we least expect it because we put our trust into them."

"We're only talking about three Predacons."

"You saw what two of them did! Yes, we attacked them, but they attacked first! If you're gonna blame someone, blame me, not my friends. It was my idea, and they just came along."

"I do blame you," Arcee said flatly, "I think you're driven by your blind ambition and stupidity to do what you think is right before talking to others. I think you sometimes have trouble controlling your anger, and that motivates your patriotism and will to fight for your race. You don't have the capacity to think. All you know how to do is act. And I think it's a miracle that Predaking didn't chew you up and spit you out, as he should have."

Arcee nodded, "It's a wonder why your name isn't Hot Head."

Hot Rod frowned and looked down again. Bumblebee intervened, "How long ago did you plan this?"

"Uh, a little after the attack."

"Did you see the footage beforehand?"

"…No. One of my friends was in that building. He told me what happened."

"So, you carried this out without any other source of information?"

Hot Rod nodded. Bumblebee vented, "We want to help you out, Hot Rod, but you're making it harder on our part."

"I'm sorry, I am. How much trouble am I in, exactly?"

"I'd say… a lot," said Bulkhead, "We'll go through it with Ultra Magnus, but disrupting the peace is kinda a big deal."

"Disrupting the peace?" Hot Rod's brow rose, "What do you mean? I didn't attack first, they did!"

"We haven't told a lot of people this, except your friend, Bluestreak," Arcee said, "But we think that the Predacons that attacked us were not under Predaking's command. Meaning, that the treaty wasn't broken until you attacked Darkmount."

Hot Rod's jaw dropped. He sat back in his chair, completely stunned.

"Holy Primus," he whispered, "Geez, I didn't- if I had known- oh, Primus. I am so sorry. I'm… I'm so stupid!"

"There's nothing your can do about it now, kid," Bumblebee told him, "We'll handle it from here."

Arcee stood up and they started to leave. Hot Rod stood up, "Wait, what happens now? With the Predacons? With me?"

Bumblebee turned to him, "Sit tight. You're gonna have to stay here for a while, but you'll want to. Most who ignite Predaking's anger get the bitter end of the deal."

Hot Rod's optics widened as they left the interrogation room.

* * *

"What is it that you are saying?" Predaking asked Ultra Magnus.

"So to be clear," Ultra Magnus said, "You and the other Predacons were at Darkmount during the attack?"

"We were attending to a… personal agenda during the time you spoke of. So, yes. We were at Darkmount."

"Then it is possible that the attackers were other Predacons, possibly more of Shockwave's creations."

"Other Predacons," Predaking mused. The thought of more of his species lifted his spark. He had to find them, bring them under his rule so that they could live their lives the best way Predacons could. He looked over at Skylynx and Darksteel. They were wide-eyed with excitement. He remembered that feeling when he heard that he was no longer the only Predacon. He turned back to Ultra Magnus, "What else do you know about them?"

"No one has spotted them since the attack, so we don't have much to offer."

"Then what do you have to offer?" Skylynx snapped. Predaking held out his servo in front of him, and Skylynx fell silent.

"You must tell us everything you know about these Predacons," Predaking said, "It is my duty to find stray Predacons and bring them under my care. And it is your duty, Autobot, to keep your citizens safe from harm. Given what these Predacons have done, I believe we can find some sort of agreement, don't you think?"

"That was just my thinking," Ultra Magnus said, "But first, you must forget the actions brought on by these Autobots. These are the actions of boys, treat them as such."

Predaking thought for a moment, "Very well. I pardon their actions against me. But know that if they or anyone else crosses my path again in such a way, I will shred them into scrap metal."

Ultra Magnus clenched his denta, "Duly noted. Now, from what we know, there were only two Predacons that attacked. We believe that one might be a femme."

"Femme?" Darksteel chimed in. he started to giggle and Skylynx slapped the back of his helm.

"Yes… a femme," said Ultra Magnus confused, "Witnesses state that the mech was black and red and the femme was brown and blue. There's nothing more we have, except that they seem to like to play with fire a lot. We were planning to send out scouts to find them."

"That is more than enough for us," Predaking said, "If the Autobots should find them before we do, then I take comfort in knowing that you will hand them over into our custody, so that they might be properly trained."

Ultra Magnus nodded, "Agreed. Thank you for listening, Predaking."

Predaking nodded and he turned and left the command center. Darksteel and Skylynx trailed after him, and soon they were gone. Ultra Magnus sat down in front of one of the monitors and vented. It was a little hard to believe that he was doing politics with the mech who deprived him of a servo and tried to kill him far more than once. He smiled to himself. Perhaps this is what progress in a new age looked like.

After mulling on that for a few moments, he contacted Bumblebee, "Bumblebee, begin assigning scouting units and send them out as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," Bumblebee responded.

"I will begin sending out public notices about what is going on and warn the citizens not to attack the Predacons. With our luck, we'll stop any others from launching their own campaign."

"Yes, sir. Good luck."

* * *

After a few cycles, the scouting units were en route to their designated areas. Smokescreen was paired with Prowl, an Autobot who was one of Arcee's old teammates. He was mostly quiet, so they must have been good friends. They were assigned to scout the demolished city of Tyger Pax. The city was huge and looked like a ghost town as they drove through it. Smokescreen remembered watching old horror movies with Miko back on Earth, and if zombies were about to jump out on them, he was not going to be happy.

"So," he said to Prowl, "When did you get back to Cybertron?"

"Yesterday," said Prowl, "I had to travel all the way from the Vexus star cluster to get here. Long trip."

"I've never been."

"It is a sight to behold, except for all the plasma storms."

"Must be nice to be home then?"

"Yes. I am patient, but the wait has been long indeed."

Smokescreen wasn't quite sure what else to say. If they were going to be in a patrol together, then it would make sense for them to actually get to know each other.

They came up to a cluster of buildings. There was no flat ground for them to drive on, so they transformed into their robot modes. Prowl led the way through all the rubble and chunks of building that had fallen. In the midst of the rubble, Smokescreen saw the old, rusted forms of fallen Autobots and Decepticons, probably never to return to their homes. Prowl led them into a large building with giant holes in the walls. He walked through without a word. Smokescreen followed him with uncertainty.

"What makes you think Predacons might be in here?" he asked.

"It's just a guess," Prowl told him, "But if they were looking for old Predacon bones, which would make sense in order to make more Predacons, this would be the perfect place."

"Why?"

"It's a museum." Prowl pointed to old artifacts that were scattered across the floor.

"Oh," said Smokescreen. They passed through the chambers of the museum until they found the prehistory section. There was broken glass everywhere, but no fossils.

"Three guesses who," Smokescreen said. As they walked further through the building, they heard thumping and clanking coming from the far end of the hall. They approached closer and could hear voices.

"I'm tired of looking for all these bones," grumbled a deep mech's voice, "'Go get this bone. Go get that bone. This is the wrong bone. I've already got that bone.' Every other word I hear from his mouth is bone. Why can't we go and do something else?"

"Because the last time we tried something new," said a rich feminine voice, "You nearly burned me and yourself to a crisp. Don't you remember that?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot."

The femme's voice scoffed, "You are a hopeless scrap-for-brains, Dreadfire. Do you know that?"

"Yes, Terraclaw."

Smokescreen and Prowl followed the voices to the end of the hall. There was a room at the very end with the doors half blown off. As they came closer, the voices kept talking.

"How come you're so smart, Terraclaw?"

"Because I was bred with reason and logic, while all you got was muscle and the sense to embarrass everything Predacon."

Smokescreen's pede caught on a metal pole and he tripped fell flat on the ground. Prowl yanked him up and they ran to either side of the open doors.

"What was that?" said the femme voice.

"Was it scraplets? Please say it's not scraplets!"

"It's not scraplets, glitch-head," the femme whispered, "Someone's listening."

There was silence except for the sound of one of them transforming. Smokescreen and Prowl looked at each other with wide optics. They flattened themselves against the wall as one of them emerged from the room. Smokescreen's spark was pounding madly. The Predacon was gigantic, nearly taking up the size of the hall, and was red and black all over, just like the descriptions they were given. His tail swayed back and forth, but he didn't seem to notice them. He growled and started to sniff the air. Smokescreen and Prowl transformed their servos into blasters and the Predacons whipped around and roared. Soon, the entire room burst into flames.

**Finally, Predacons! Woohoo! **

**Okay, so a round of applause to Fanatic97 who guess correctly who the idiot boy was! When I saw that, I just started laughing so hard! So, the next chapter should be coming out here soon now that I get to use my Preds. I'm excited for that. Until then, review, follow, and favorite! **

**Oh, and Energon cookies for whoever points out the Thor line :) **


	5. Chapter 5

Primeval

Chapter 5

As the flames approached closer, Smokescreen and Prowl ducked behind two columns standing adjacent to the opposing walls. They made it just in time as a blast of intense heat and light whizzed past them. Smokescreen waited for the fire to dissipate, but it kept on going for several nanocycles. When it finally dispersed, everything the fire made contact with was blackened and smoldering.

Smokescreen and Prowl came out from behind the columns and fired at the Predacon. He roared and swung his tail at them. Prowl was knocked to the side along with every column that was still standing. Smokescreen jumped back a ways, but the spikes at the end of his tail raked across his chassis. He was knocked against the wall and Energon leaked down from his wounds.

"I told you it wasn't scraplets!" shouted the femme voice. Smokescreen heard the femme transform and another Predacon form leaped out from the room. It was smaller and light brown and blue. It screeched and pounced on Prowl.

"Hey!" Smokescreen shouted. He aimed his blaster at the Predacon, but the other came up, clamped his maw down on his servo, and threw Smokescreen across the room. He hit the wall with a thud and fell lifelessly on the ground. The larger Predacon growled and lumbered over to him.

"Scrap!" Prowl grunted. He held back the Predacon femme's claws as she tried to slice his faceplate off. He got his leg free and kneed her in the abdomen. She growled and lost her balance. Prowl threw her off and ran over to the larger Predacon. Wrist blades ejected from his forearms and he jumped on the Predacon's back, slicing at the back of his neck. The Predacon shrieked and thrashed around to shake him off.

"Sorry," Prowl chuckled, "I don't let things go so easily."

Smokescreen groaned and stood up. Energon was still leaking from him, but it wasn't that serious. He fired his blaster at the Predacon's underbelly, but his thick armor made the Energon blast bounce off like rain droplets on a car window. The larger Predacon barely noticed him, but the smaller Predacon did. She pounced in front of Smokescreen and snarled. Smokescreen smirked, "Alright, then. Let's dance."

She shrieked and charged at him. As she came within microns of him, Smokescreen turned on his Phase Shifter. The Predacon phased through him and slammed headfirst into the wall behind him. Smokescreen turned off the Phase Shifter and laughed.

"I'm tellin' you, phase wins every time!"

The Predacon turned around and narrowed her optics at him. She growled as her wings extended to the top of the ceiling. She flapped them once and a strong wind current knocked Smokescreen back. He hit what remained of a column stump and the Predacon charged at him again, her claws sparking as they scraped the ground.

Prowl saw the Predacon femme charging, and jumped off the larger Predacon to stop her. She saw him out of the corner of her optic, changed direction, and slammed into him. As they rolled on the ground, her claws sliced off part of his armor, but he ignored it and kept fighting. The larger Predacon, relieved that there was no longer a pest on him, turned his attention to Smokescreen. Smokescreen's right pede was badly injured, and Energon was leaking from it onto the ground. He groaned and tried to stand himself up. The Predacon roared, lumbered over to him, and clamped his jaws down on his torso. Smokescreen screamed as he was thrashed around and the sharp denta began to pierce his metal skin. He reached over to activate the Phase Shifter, but the Predacon threw him towards the wall. Thankfully, Smokescreen had activated it just in time, and he phased through the wall. On the other side, he unconscious landed in a heap of rubble.

The Predacon cocked his head confused when he saw Smokescreen disappear, but he quickly lost interest and turned his attention to the Predacon femme and Prowl fighting. The Predacon femme snapped at Prowl's faceplate and he held her neck cables to keep her back. He struggled to hold her back, and then the larger Predacon roared. Without reason, the Predacon femme leaped off Prowl and stood behind the larger Predacon. Prowl wasn't sure what was going on until he saw light building up in the Predacon's chassis and travel up his throat. At that instant, he ran to find cover as the Predacon shot fire everywhere. He ran behind a column stump and remained still until the fire dissipated. It was quiet for a moment. He peeked over the edge just in time to see the Predacon femme's tail come crashing down on his helm. Then, he was out cold.

The two Predacons looked over their new catch. His helm began leaking Energon and he had several other injuries, but in all, he would live. They transformed back into their robot modes, and the Predacon mech nudged Prowl with his pede. Prowl groaned a little and he growled.

"Relax, Dreadfire," said the Predacon femme, "Even if he does wake up, there's little he could do. Shame though, to damage such a pretty face. What happened to the other?"

Dreadfire pointed over at the wall. The femme cocked her head in confusion, then shook her helm and said, "You know what? I don't care."

"What do we do now, Terraclaw?" asked Dreadfire. Terraclaw thought for a moment, "The Autobots found us here, and they were eavesdropping on us. They're clearly tracking us, or at least keeping an optic out. I guess our little light show earlier got on their nerves. That being said, we should take him back to the lab, find out everything that's going on."

"And what if he won't talk?"

"Then…. You'll get a little snack."

"What kind of snack?" Dreadfire asked excitedly. Terraclaw vented, then reached over and patted Dreadfire's servo, "Oh, my dear mech. You lack so much. I'll explain later."

* * *

It was like there was a car crash that occurs in his processor. Smokescreen's helm was throbbing and it hurt like the Pit to keep his optics opened. How long had he been out? It didn't exactly feel like that long. What happened exactly? Ah, yes. He remembered. He was in the Predacon's mouth, which smelled bad just as a side note, and he was thrown at the wall. But he survived, somehow. How did he-? Oh, right. The Phase Shifter. Then he ended up out here and Prowl- Prowl…

Smokescreen groaned and forced his optics to open. He was still lying in the rubble on his chassis. The demolished museum was several yards away from him. As he struggled to stand up, he cringed from the pain shooting up his right leg. He looked down and remembered that his pede had been busted during the fight. He started to limp over to the building and tried to contact Prowl.

"Prowl, you alright? I got thrown out of the building. I'm heading back now. I'm injured, what about you? Prowl? You there?"

There was no answer. When he came up to the building wall, he didn't see an opening inside. He looked down at his wrist joint. The Phase Shifter was still active, so he walked through the wall back inside. What was now the familiar setting of charred stone and metal appeared before him. When he was out, the fight was still going on, because there were new smolder patches in the ground. What worried him the most was there was no one here to continue the fighting. No Predacons, no Autobots.

"Prowl?" he tried again, "Do you read? Scrap."

The Predacons must've taken him somewhere. He had to get back to Kaon.

"Smokescreen to base. I need a Ground-Bridge."

A Ground-Bridge appeared in a few nanocycles. Before walking through, Smokescreen looked back one last time. Maybe he missed Prowl or something. Maybe he was sitting in the corner or lying behind some rubble. But no, he wasn't. Hesitantly, Smokescreen stepped through the vortex and returned to Kaon.

* * *

As Ratchet fixed Smokescreen up, Bumblebee and Arcee talked quietly outside the med bay.

"I just don't get it," Arcee said angrily, "Why would they take Prowl? It doesn't make any sense. Why would those mindless glitches-?"

"If they took him, then they're not so mindless," Bumblebee corrected her, "Maybe they want to bargain, or find out something about us."

"Sorry. I just…"

Bumblebee nodded, "I get it. Let's find out what happened."

They stepped into the med bay. Ratchet didn't look up from his work, but Smokescreen looked over at them and smiled.

"Hey," he said, "Don't worry about me. I'll be back out there as soon as this is done, right, Doc?"

Ratchet grumbled and kept repairing Smokescreen's pede.

"Any better?" Bumblebee asked. Smokescreen nodded, "A lot. Put this in you intel; mystery Predacons are dangerous, proceed with extreme caution. They know how to kick aft."

Arcee stepped up, "What happened to Prowl?"

Smokescreen's expression turned grim, "I don't know. I'm sorry, Arcee."

She nodded, "It's fine. Did you find out anything about the Predacons?"

"Names, I think," Smokescreen started off, "Mech's called Dreadfire. Femme's called Terraclaw. Dreadfire's a bit dumb and likes to incinerate everything, and I honestly think that's a terrible combination. Terraclaw's the brains for both of them. If I had to guess, she orders him around more times than most. Also, likes sharp things."

"More for the bio," Bumblebee said, "What else?"

"We heard them talking about collecting bones all the time, and how they always had to collect them for someone. I bet I could guess who that someone was."

Bumblebee glowered, "Shockwave. I bet that's where they took Prowl. He must be trying to build up a Predacon army again."

"Where do we start?" Arcee turned to him.

"Um…" he wasn't quite sure, "I… can't say now since we don't have a way to track them directly. We'd have to beef up the security more, now that we know more about them."

"You could start by looking at former Decepticon laboratories and look for recent activity," Ratchet added, "Look in areas close to both places were the Predacons were seen."

"Like we did with Nemesis Prime," said Arcee.

"Thanks for the advice, Ratchet," Bumblebee said, "We'll go inform the others."

He and Arcee left the med bay with haste. When they were gone, Smokescreen turned to Ratchet, "So, Doc. Are you still planning to go back to Earth?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, but I'd like to stay at least until things are sorted out here. And in all honesty, I'd be a little worried to leave all of those patients in Knock Out's hands alone. He's a good mech, he just needs a little practicing in selflessness."

Smokescreen chuckled, "Yeah. So, how was everyone, when you last saw them?"

"Fine. I believe Jack is planning to attend a military academy once he is finished with school."

"Really? Wow."

"It'll be good for him. Miko's actually trying to get work done in school, but she misses Bulkhead. Raf's about the same, though he's taken a particular interest in astrophysics."

Smokescreen smiled, "That's good to hear. Nice to know they're doing alright."

"You know, they asked if there were a way for them to come visit Cybertron sometime," Ratchet looked up, "So long as it wasn't for a ransom exchange, as Miko put it."

Smokescreen laughed, "That's cool. Will they be able to?"

Ratchet pondered for a nanocycle, "I hope that they will be able to at some point. I think it would be best to wait until this whole ordeal is over. If it is ever over."

* * *

In the dark, damp cavern, one would wonder why anyone or thing would ever want to stay down here for one night cycle, let alone live in it. But then again, this was only a small portion of the system Prowl had set optics on. Perhaps it would be the only portion. He had woken up not too long ago, and the two Predacons brought him down to this room with little lighting and bits and parts of Autobots scattered in the corners. It was creepy enough to be alone in here. But right now, Prowl wasn't alone.

"My patience is beginning to lessen, Autobot," said a deep mech's voice, "It would be wise for you to tell me the directive of your scouting in that sector."

Prowl was on his knees underneath the light with his servos behind his helm. His captor was standing directly behind him, but he didn't need to see him to know whom it was. He scoffed, "Yeah? Or what?"

"Or I will have no choice but to terminate you. It is illogical to waste time and resources on an uncooperative prisoner."

"Well, Shockwave, You must be pretty bad off if one prisoner can topple your careful schedule. Maybe you didn't plan this as well as you thought."

Shockwave said nothing, but Prowl felt his cannon press against his back. He heard it power up and he exhaled slowly.

"My creations would not have brought you here unless they thought it might jeopardize my directive," Shockwave said, "What was your directive?"

Prowl ran it through his processor; there was no telling what Shockwave would do if he knew that they were looking out for the Predacons. He might set them out in the city again, as some sort of lesson to be taught. He found the courage within his spark to stay silent.

Before Shockwave could say anything else, the door to the dark room slid open and Prowl saw the Predacon femme step inside. He felt Shockwave's cannon move away from his back.

"What is it, Terraclaw?" Shockwave asked. She fidgeted with her digits, "We found the right bones you wanted. It was easier in the museum wing."

"Very good. But do not always expect your tasks to be completed so easily. You know which ones to find next?"

Terraclaw nodded and looked down at Prowl, "Anything from him?"

"No, and it is unlikely that he will tell us anything willingly."

Terraclaw smirked, "I bet I can get him to change his mind."

Her claws unsheathed from the tips of her digits and glistened in the dim light. But Shockwave intervened, "No, Terraclaw. But tell me, what is it you can deduct firsthand?"

Terraclaw cocked her head and stepped slowly up to Prowl, examining him closely. He glared at her as she came close to his faceplate, but hers was softened and gentle, though there was a sense of alertness in her optics. She sniffed once and looked straight into his optics. Suddenly, Prowl felt relaxed. Her optic darted all over his faceplate, but he felt almost as though he could… trust her.

"War hero," she said aloud, "Obviously. Trained as a cyberninja for several stellar cycles before entering the Autobot corps, before the exodus. Served under Optimus Prime for some time before venturing out on his own. He was out in the Vexus cluster. There's plasma residue all over him."

"A simple background history does not interest me," Shockwave said.

"Very well, though it can tell a lot. Secretive, always. Dependable, most always. He is strong willed, no fear, at least when it suits him. It was a surprise when he found us, though not as great unless you were looking out for something."

"They were not directly tracking you, then. The Autobots are only looking to protect their borders. A logical strategy."

Terraclaw stood up and stepped backward towards the door.

"What now?" she asked, "They'll be out looking for him. We could use him to get more Energon, somehow."

"Dealing with the Autobots is not a priority," Shockwave said. Without another word, he pressed the barrel of his cannon to the back of Prowl's helm. Prowl's spark was racing and he looked up pleadingly at Terraclaw. Then Shockwave fired, and Prowl fell face down on the ground.

Terraclaw stepped back a little. She stared at the new hole in the Autobot's helm, which was already leaking Energon. She frowned. It didn't make sense. She didn't know why, but it just didn't.

Shockwave stepped over the dead Autobot and up to her. As he came closer, she felt slightly afraid. She was just as tall as he was, but she felt small and insignificant. She wouldn't let her fear show, though. When he came right up to her, she simply pursed her lips and glowered at Shockwave.

"The only priority now," he told her, "Is that we acquire enough fossil specimens to clone the number of Predacons needed to retake Cybertron. You are to avoid any and all contact with the Autobots."

"Of course," Terraclaw said. She turned to leave through the door, but stopped when she felt Shockwave's servo grab her shoulder joint. She turned her helm and glared at his red optic.

"And with the incident earlier today, you are to never create another stunt like that again, or the Autobots will pour in all their resources to hunt you and Dreadfire down."

Terraclaw nodded, "Of course. Dreadfire was just a little bored, but it was my idea. You have nothing to worry about."

Shockwave let go of her shoulder joint and she walked out of the room. Before turning the corner, she looked back at the dead Autobot. She looked at it with uncertainty for a moment, and then left without another thought.

**Now, before you say anything… actually, no. I regret nothing from this chapter :P **

**First off, congrats to Blueeyes713 for finding the Thor line in the last chapter, so here *****gives Energon cookies*****. And for those who either didn't see it or were too lazy to point it out, "These are the actions of boys, treat them as such." Second, thank you those who have started following/favoriting this story. Your love is much appreciated :) Third, the next chapter should be out soon, but my mom did say that she's planning to ban us from screens all of next week, so we'll see how that goes. But if you want someone to blame, blame my brother, he's got a bit of a videogame problem. Until then, leave a review! **


	6. Chapter 6

Primeval

Chapter 6

Nearly a decacycle had past since the Predacons first attack, and there had been next to no activity since. It was strange, and put the entire community on edge. The idea of an impending attack was frightening to everyone, but as the time passed, so did the fear. Many of the refugees that had first arrived on Cybertron were Autobots, because they knew that they would be welcomed and safe. The Decepticons, however, found it hard to find the courage in their sparks to return to their home world. But some began to return, and found a way to live peacefully, despite their reputation. The planet was healing, both in mind and in body.

After millions of years, Energon deposits were slowly beginning to reform. What remained at present was a runny, goo-like substance that sparked with energy. It ran like rivers through the nether regions of the planet, and seldom appeared on the surface. It would take years before the substance could form into stable Energon, but it was a start. What was worth worrying about at present was the apparent disappearance of the Predacons. Both the Autobots and Predaking were keeping a keen optic out for the strays, but their ability to hide was impressive. But if they were bold enough to attack out in the open, who is to say they wouldn't try again?

* * *

Bumblebee remembered how Raf told him about how the Grand Canyon was one of the most incredible marvels of Earth. He remembered how Raf said that it started out as a river millions of years ago, and that erosion whittled away the rock and gave way to a monument of incomparable grandeur. There wasn't anything quite like that on Cybertron, at least not as grand, but there were a few canyons to explore.

The plan to search in areas close to both sightings of the Predacons was a good idea, but the problem was that they still couldn't find them. So they branched out, and had been expanding their field of view since. This maze of canyons was ideal; there were several tunnels that ran throughout and connected each valley, while others stopped at a dead end. Running down the main canyon was a small Energon creek, which occasionally sparked without warning. Bumblebee would not dare use his blasters here, unless there was no other option. With him were Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen. It was decided that scouting teams of two was too risky if there were an attack, given what happened to Smokescreen and Prowl.

As they walked down the canyon, they checked each tunnel to make sure nothing would sneak up on them. Each one was empty, at least of any life. Some were stored with crates filled with machinery and junk, while others just had scrap metal scattered on the ground, and a few even had old bones lying against the wall. Not Predacon bones, but early Cybertronian for sure.

"How long does this maze go out?" Bulkhead said aloud.

"I don't know," Bumblebee said, "I wonder how long it's been around."

"Since before the Golden Age," Smokescreen chimed in, "These areas were populated mostly by smugglers bringing in exports from other planets. About half of the tunnels here were carved out so they could hide all of their goods."

Everyone stopped and stared at Smokescreen. He shrugged, "What? So, I'm a history nut, big deal."

They kept walking down the canyon. After a few moments of silence, Arcee said, "I guess that makes sense. You'd have a hard time getting out if you were looking for crooks."

As they came to the intersection of two valleys, Bumblebee looked down and saw dirty smudges and scraps on the ground. They would have been otherwise insignificant, if they weren't shaped like paw prints.

"Or Predacons," he said out loud. The others looked down at the prints. Arcee chuckled.

"What?" Bumblebee asked.

"Paw prints." She pointed down at them. He finally got the joke and laughed. The tracks led into a different canyon heading east. The Energon stream headed in the same direction. The Predacons must have been using the stream as a fuel source. They flowed the tracks to a section of the canyon that was wider and the walls were dotted with numerous tunnels. The mouths of each of them were all dark; they must have all been dead ends or were connected like a hive, bleeding into one another.

"Watch your step," Bumblebee said quietly, "They could be watching us."

They stepped carefully along the stream bank, keeping a careful optic on all of the tunnel openings. It was spark-chillingly quiet, as though death swooped in and stole every spark that once dwelled here.

* * *

Bumblebee was right. Even before they found the tracks, the Predacons were watching them very closely. They stayed close together to make sure they didn't get lost. They had been here a while, but a maze was a maze, and this one was a difficult one to get use to. The valley the Autobots were in now, the Predacons weaved throughout the tunnel network and watched them to see what they would do. If they went far enough, they would find that the tracks led into one of the tunnel openings, and Terraclaw calculated that they would not enter the tunnels and risk being cornered.

Dreadfire was near the opening of one of the tunnels and tried to poke his helm out to see better. Terraclaw yanked him back and hissed at him, "Idiot! You were almost in the light. Now's not the time to be seen. Be patient."

"I'm curious, Terraclaw," Dreadfire said. She groaned; almost all of his questions were unbearable.

"How do we know they'll attack us? I mean, unless we attack them first, there's not much of a reason why they should shoot first. You said that the Autobots were weak, how they always try the dipol- uh, dopo-…"

"Diplomatic."

"How they always try that idea first. Why not see what they'll do? Then, we can kill them when they least expect it."

Terraclaw smirked at the idea. She chuckled, "That's sound ingenious. Hard to believe it came out of your mouth."

They looked back at the Autobots. They weren't far from the end of the tracks now.

"Okay, here's the plan," Terraclaw said, "I'll go out and pretend like I don't notice them. Once they start to get close, I'll look up and pretend to be curious about them. Then, you come out from behind them and do the same thing. Act like a cute, little cyberpuppy."

Dreadfire snickered, "Then we tear them apart and stake their helms on the side of a cliff. You make the best plans."

Terraclaw smiled and patted his faceplate, "I know, dear. Wait here and come out at the right time."

* * *

It still remained quiet, but Bumblebee thought for a moment that he heard shuffling throughout the valley. They must have been near the center now because the canyon was now wider and a pool of Energon gathered together then continued in a stream down the canyon. The tracks went on for a little longer, and then it looked like they came to an end at one of the tunnel entrances.

"Remember," Bumblebee turned to the others and whispered, "No blasters unless you don't have a choice."

When he turned back around, his spark leaped up into his throat. One of the Predacons, the femme, emerged from one of the tunnels. Bulkhead transformed his servos into wrecking balls, Arcee ejected her wrist blades, and Smokescreen and Bumblebee balled their fists. But the Predacon didn't attack. She didn't even look over at them. Instead, she went to the pool of Energon and started lapping up the liquid with her glossa. Arcee frowned, "What is she doing?"

They started to creep closer, still on guard, and the Predacon still paid no attention to them. Her wing stretched out and they stopped, keeping their weapons primed. But there was no need. Her wings fluttered and then closed against her back. She finished drinking the Energon, then went to sniff the ground around her. The pool sparked and she jumped back and growled, her wings stretching out again.

"Any bright ideas, 'Bee?" Bulkhead said. Bumblebee frowned and started walking slowly toward the Predacon.

"Are you insane?!" Smokescreen said, "Don't get closer! She will tear you to shreds!"

"I think if they were going to attack, they would've done it by now." Bumblebee took a few more steps before the Predacon looked up at him. He stopped, unsure of what she would do, but she just kept staring at him. She sniffed the air and cocked her helm. Her helm dipped closer to the ground and she started creeping up to him. Bumblebee's spark was racing. Arcee called out, "'Bee, get back over here!"

The Predacon looked over at her and Arcee froze. After a quick look, the Predacon ignored her and looked back up at Bumblebee.

"If I run," he said, "She'll chase me."

He took a step back and growl rumbled in the Predacon's throat. Bumblebee stopped and she came right up in front of him. Bumblebee exhaled slowly as the Predacon sniffed his faceplate and down his arm. When she came down to his servo, she nudged her helm under it. She growled pleasantly, and Bumblebee was too petrified to move his servo. He looked back at the others, whose optics looked like they were about to pop out of their helms.

"What do I do?!" he mouthed. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen looked at each other in confusion. Arcee looked back at the Predacon and Bumblebee, then started walking over to the both of them. Smokescreen and Bulkhead stared at each other.

"What are you doing?" Bulkhead said, "Neither of you are Predacon Whisperers!"

The Predacon nuzzled against Bumblebee's torso and circled around him. Her tail was up high and swayed back and forth. Bumblebee couldn't help but laugh a little. It was so strange and unexpected. Upon hearing him laughing, the Predacon licked his servo and he rested it on her helm again.

"What's going on?" Arcee asked. Bumblebee looked over at her, "I have no idea. But it's… I just don't know."

"She could be tricking you," Arcee told him. The Predacon looked over at her and walked over slowly. Arcee held up her wrist blades, but the Predacon lay down on the ground and flipped over on her back. Arcee looked down at her confused, but she growled impatiently.

"Does she want me to…?"

"I think so." Arcee frowned and looked down at her. The Predacon cocked her head and growled again. Without retracting her wrist blades, Arcee bent down slowly and placed her hand on the Predacon's abdomen. The Predacon growled happily and Arcee rubbed her belly more. She looked up at Bumblebee.

"This is weird. I mean _really _weird."

The Predacon rolled back on her pedes and stood in front of Bumblebee, wagging her tail playfully. He and Arcee looked at each other, back at the Predacon, then back to each other. Bumblebee raised his brow and smiled a little, "Yeah, really weird. But you know, it's kinda cute."

"Yeah," Arcee said. She held out her servo and the Predacon nuzzled it. "She's pretty too, you know, for a Predacon."

"Bulkhead, Smokescreen, I think it's okay."

"No way, 'Bee," Smokescreen said, "She tried to turn me into scrap metal. I am not getting closer."

"I'm with Smokescreen," said Bulkhead, "There's something up about this."

Before they said anything else, there was thumping right behind them. They turned and saw the other Predacon towering over them. They stumbled back and Bulkhead held up his wrecking balls. But like the Predacon femme, this Predacon didn't attack. He moved closer to Smokescreen and sniffed. Smokescreen tried to move away, but tripped and fell on his aft. The Predacon sniffed his faceplate and torso. His breath was still horrible, as Smokescreen unfortunately remembered. The Predacon decided that he examined him enough and went over to sniff Bulkhead. Bulkhead was tensed, but remained still as the Predacon took in his scent. His teeth bore slightly and Bulkhead held back his wrecking ball just in case. Instead of biting, the Predacon raked his glossa against Bulkhead's faceplate. Bulkhead groaned and tried to push away the Predacon's helm, but the Predacon just kept licking him. He started to move closer, enclosing the Autobots between him and the Predacon femme.

Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen looked at each other with uncertainty. There was no way around the Predacons now. The Predacon femme nuzzled her helm under Bumblebee's servo again, but the way she looked at him was unnerving. She didn't purr, nuzzle, or do anything but look straight in his optics. When he looked longer, a certain fire entered her optics, a sort of maliciousness. Her teeth started to show and Bumblebee's optics widened.

"Look out!" The Predacons roared and swiped at them, knocking them off to the side and against the wall. Bumblebee and Smokescreen sailed to the right while Arcee and Bulkhead flew to the left. Bumblebee tried to regain his footing, but the Predacon femme jumped on top of him and slashed at his throat. He caught her servo microns from his neck cables, and then she chomped down on his shoulder pad. He groaned in pain as she bit down again and again, trying to aim for his neck.

Smokescreen got up, saw Bumblebee and the Predacon, and leaped on the Predacon's back. He yanked her back and she shrieked and tried to reach back to him with her claws. Bumblebee got up and grabbed on to her long neck cables. They wrestled her to the ground and fought to keep her wings down. She screeched and swung her tail up. It knocked Smokescreen off and she leaped up, slashing her claws near Bumblebee's torso.

Meanwhile, the Predacon mech swung his tail at Arcee and Bulkhead. Arcee jumped over it, but Bulkhead wasn't quick enough, and he was knocked over to the Energon pool. The Predacon swung again and Arcee grabbed his tail and held on for dear life. The Predacon thrashed his tail to get her off, but Arcee held on and let go in time to land at the base of his neck. She reached up, grabbed on to part of his crest, and jerked them hard to maneuver his helm. The Predacon roared and wandered around disoriented. He no longer had control of where he was looking.

Bulkhead finally regained himself and charged at the Predacon. He swung his wrecking ball at the Predacon's front legs and he fell forward on his stomach. Arcee leaped off, and the she and Bulkhead slashed and bashed the Predacon's neck cables and helm.

Smokescreen had fallen in the Energon stream and was covered in the gooey, blue liquid. He looked over at Bumblebee. He was jumping back in order to avoid having his abdomen slashed open by the Predacon femme. Smokescreen ran over and grabbed at the base of the Predacon's wings. He pulled on them hard and she roared. Her wings batted, creating strong wind currents, but he held on until Bumblebee grabbed her neck and brought her to the ground. He pressed his knee joint behind her helm and she growled. Her wings and tail thrashed around, but she couldn't get up and fight. Bumblebee vented, "Nice try."

She narrowed her optic at him. Her maw opened and Bumblebee saw a light building up in her chest. It travelled up her throat, and Bumblebee widened his optics and clamped her mouth down. When the light reached her mouth, she pointed her helm at the Energon stream. The heat started to escape and Bumblebee felt the urge to retract his servos, but he resisted and held the Predacon down. But the pressure and heat became too much. He lost his grip and a fireball shot out at the Energon. It hit the stream and a chain of explosions travelled down the canyon.

When the fire and smoke cleared, Bumblebee looked up and saw fire patches scattered around the canyon floor. The smoke hadn't completely cleared, and it was too thick to see anyone else. He stood up to take in what he could see. The Energon stream was completely gone, some of the tunnels had been nearly blown apart and those that contained old crates had their merchandise destroyed and scattered. More importantly, he couldn't see Arcee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, or the Predacons.

"Bulkhead!" he coughed, "Arcee! Smokescreen!"

There was no response from anyone, but it wasn't exactly silent. Bumblebee heard painful screeching and whimpering. The smoke was almost gone now, and Bumblebee saw a Predacon form lying several yards away from him. He moved closer and saw that it was the Predacon femme. He couldn't tell if she saw him or not, but she was lying on her right side and whined loudly. When he came closer, he saw a large metal spike protruding from her left side. Energon leaked from it and she looked at it and whimpered.

"Oh…" Bumblebee didn't know what to do. He heard footsteps and turned to see Arcee and Bulkhead coming from either side. They were both scorched and one of Arcee's winglets was bent awkwardly.

"Where's Smokescreen?" Neither of them knew. They heard coughing over on the north side of the valley. They looked over and saw Smokescreen stumble out from a pile of boulders and crates. His armor was black all over and it looked like it was still smoldering.

"I'm… I'm fine," he said, "I've had worse… I think."

They all looked to the Predacon femme. She was still whimpering and her optics darted around in fear. Bumblebee went over and kneeled next to her helm. She looked up at him, afraid of what he might do, but he reached out his servo and gently stroked her crest.

"Hey, it's okay," Bumblebee told her. He looked up at the others, "What should we do?"

None of them were sure. It was too dangerous to consider bringing her to Kaon, but they couldn't leave her here to rust.

Before they made any other decisions, the Predacon mech leaped from the smoke and roared at Bumblebee. Bumblebee stood up and backed away quickly. The Predacon stood over the femme snarled at them violently.

"Okay, we get it!" Bumblebee said, "We'll go. Ratchet, send a Ground-Bridge."

As they waited for a portal to appear, the Predacon bore his teeth and dug at the ground with his claws. They just kept backing away until they were a reasonable distance away from him. Even then, he kept growling and roaring at them. They had never seen a Predacon this angry before. When the portal finally came, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen went through without hesitation. Bumblebee stayed behind for a few nanocycles longer. The look in this Predacon's optics was one of pure hatred. Bumblebee had rarely ever seen that before.

Before any other bright ideas came to mind, Bumblebee went through the Ground-Bridge.

**Wow. That chapter went a lot longer than I thought it would. **

**So, I was originally gonna have this take place in the Sonic Canyons, but then I found out it was actually a city and that idea was just ruined. I hope you liked the little Energon-river-forming idea. It's just an idea I had about how the whole Energon process worked. Thank you, knowledge of geology. I won't explain the whole thing now, but if you do want to know, let me know and I'll spill out a little soliloquy. ;) Let me know what you think of this chapter and of any ideas you might have. **


	7. Chapter 7

Primeval

Chapter 7

"What do you mean you refuse?"

Shockwave did not look up as he addressed Dreadfire. He merely continued his work as he spoke.

"I had instructed Terraclaw not to engage the Autobots in any form," he told him, "And now you tell me that she was damaged in the act of doing so. I will not tend to the injuries of an unruly and disobedient Predacon."

Dreadfire growled, "But… she's your creation. You've said that she's the smartest out of all the other Predacons you cloned!"

"Indeed, but now I see that it was a mistake to enhance her processor capabilities. I will let this serve as a lesson in judgment for her, whatever outcome is in store."

Anger started to fester in Dreadfire's spark. He clenched his servo and slammed it down in front of Shockwave, destroying what he was working on. Shockwave finally looked up, paying full attention to him.

"You can't really think that this is a good idea!" Dreadfire shouted, "How else are you gonna get more bones, or manage the other Predacons? Terraclaw is the perfect link! She was able to understand what you said and what you wanted, but she had the Predacons trust. If you let her die, I swear, you'll regret it."

Shockwave just stared at Dreadfire, his red optic unmoving, "This emotional attachment you express for her is a logical explanation for your outburst of anger. But you misunderstand. You and Terraclaw are no longer the only recipients for the task of collecting more fossils. And there are numerous other candidates who could easily replace her. Essentially, Terraclaw's usefulness has been rendered null and void. And unless you wish to share the same fate, you will not inform the other Predacons of the situation."

Dreadfire was fuming. He leaned forward until his faceplate was right in front of Shockwave's. He growled, "What's going to stop me from telling them? You and your logic?"

Dreadfire didn't see Shockwave reach over to an electric prod on the lab bench. He turned it on and jabbed it in the middle of Dreadfire's chest. Dreadfire yelled and fell back, light smoke ebbing from the burn. He clenched his denta and glared at Shockwave.

"Need I remind you that I am as much your creator as I am Terraclaw's. I will not tolerate the same defiance from you as your cohort has shown. If you wish to remain alongside Terraclaw, know that your return will result in your termination."

Dreadfire growled as he stood up. He took one last look at Shockwave before leaving. He noticed that the electric prod was still in his servo. He wished Shockwave had a regular faceplate, so he could tell if he was on edge or not. When he turned to corner into the hall, he growled to himself. He always wanted out of this place, mostly just out from under Shockwave's authority. And now he finally had a reason to.

But he also worried. He didn't know anything about fixing a wound, and neither did Terraclaw as far as he knew. There weren't exactly any options for them, but he would figure something out. He had to.

* * *

"My audio processors must be malfunctioning. So you went up and petted the Predacon?"

"Well, essentially."

"You _petted _the Predacon? What was it, twice?"

Bumblebee groaned, "Fine, yes. Can we move on now?"

Knock Out shook his helm and continued repairing Bumblebee's burns. Bumblebee could still tell by the look on his faceplate that he was stumped by the fact. After things finally quieted down after a while, Ratchet had returned to Earth, and Knock Out became the head medical officer. No one seemed to mind that much on his abilities, but they could easily do without his endless commentary.

"I would never let a beast come up to me like that," he said, "I was around Predaking enough to know that even the humidity in their breath is enough to ruin a perfectly good shine. Slagging luck you four didn't receive more serious damage."

When he finished with Bumblebee's repairs, Knock Out moved over to Smokescreen. A thin crust of soot from the burnt Energon has formed on top of his paintjob, and it stuck like glue all over him. Knock Out found a buffer and started removing the soot, slowly revealing Smokescreen's blue and yellow paint underneath.

"So, what's the game plan, now?" Smokescreen asked. Knock Out stopped buffing, "Oh, no. There's not going to be any 'game plan' until I've finished and you've properly recovered!"

Bulkhead looked over at Knock Out and frowned, "Since when have you ever bothered about our recovery?"

Knock Out looked over at him and cocked his helm, "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't, but I am actually trying to show sincerity for my fellow Autobots. Believe it or not, but there are some who have… doubts about where my alliances lie."

"I wonder why," Arcee said. Knock Out rolled his optics and continued buffing Smokescreen's paint.

"But what are we going to do?" said Bulkhead, "We know where the Predacons are."

"And chances are that they won't risk moving with Terraclaw injured," added Arcee, "But I think any glitch head would know not to go after them even now."

"Especially not with one of them feeling fine and slagged out mad," said Bumblebee, "So, anybody got any bright ideas that involve us not getting killed?"

Everyone was silent. No one could think of something to fix this problem.

"We don't have time for ideas," said a mech's voice, "We have but one option."

They all turned and saw Ultra Magnus enter the med bay.

"What do you mean?" asked Bumblebee.

"Now that we know the Predacons' current location, we need to inform Predaking. He will know how to best handle the situation."

"Doesn't necessarily mean they'll go with him quietly," said Arcee.

"Regardless, we made an agreement with him and we must uphold it. But, first, is there anything I should know beforehand about the incident? Predaking will want to know as much as possible."

All the other Autobots looked at each other. After a quick moment, Bumblebee looked to Ultra Magnus, "The Predacons might say otherwise, but they attacked first."

"Apparently right after stripes here thought he could tame the beast within," chimed Knock Out.

"Yeah, but they tricked us!" Smokescreen added, "And it… well, uh… kinda worked."

Ultra Magnus raised an optic-brow, then shook his helm, "Anything else?"

"One of the Predacons does have a severe injury," added Arcee, "So, more than likely they're still in the canyon."

"Then we must waste no time," said Ultra Magnus, "I will inform Predaking so that he may decide what to do with the two."

He turned around to leave the med bay. Bumblebee stood up quickly and said, "What do you want us to do, sir?"

Ultra Magnus stopped, then turned around and faced him.

"You four will remain here and heed Knock Out's advice," he said, "Regrettably, soldier, this matter is out of our hands until those two Predacons are under control. I realize that none of you appreciate this, and neither do I for that matter, but we made an agreement so that there would be no fighting amongst us."

"But-"

"That is an order." Ultra Magnus turned and left without another word. Bumblebee vented and sat back down. Knock Out looked over at him and shook his helm.

"Now I guess you have no choice but to listen to me for a change," he smirked.

"Shut up, Knock Out."

* * *

As they arrived closer to the coordinates, Predaking could see that the land blackened in the distance. Skylynx and Darksteel flew behind him, and he heard them jitter and chirp as they approached. They were flying directly over the canyon system now. Predaking saw that the black soot travelled along a single valley, or at least what was left of one. It pointed in the same direction as the coordinates were located. They flew low and fast until they found the origin. They landed gently on the ground and transformed into their robot modes.

"Hmph," Skylynx pondered, "Not exactly much of a hiding place."

"Kinda looks like home," added Darksteel.

"Yeah, thanks to you."

"Quiet, the both of you," Predaking snapped, "They can't be far from here. Search the surrounding caves."

They split off and searched through the rubble and caverns. Predaking headed down east through the canyon. It was quiet, save the echoing of Skylynx and Darksteel's voices, and there wasn't as much destruction back here. More caves here were intact. Predaking sniffed the air; there was a scent of fresh Energon, very faint but definitely here.

He heard rocks falling behind him. As a precaution, he transformed into his beast mode and turned around. Before he could register, something slammed into Predaking and tackled him to the ground. He roared and bit down on one of the attacker's servos. The attacker roared, but Predaking held on and swung him off. His attacker fell on the ground and sprang back up on his pedes snarling. Predaking finally saw that this was the male Predacon the Autobots spoke of. And if the male was here, then the female couldn't be far away.

The male charged at him and Predaking did the same. They collided with each other, biting and clawing, attempting to subdue the other. The male clamped his teeth on Predaking's shoulder joint and Predaking bit down on his neck cables. The taste of fresh Energon filled their mouths, and Predaking pushed the male back against the canyon wall. They let go of each other and Predaking swiped at the male's faceplate, knocking him off to the side. He grabbed on to the end of his tail and swung him up in the air with all his strength. He let go and the male flew off and hit the ground with a thud. His legs wobbled as he stood up. Predaking approached closer, and the male's chest started to glow bright. In a few seconds, he spewed out a cloud of fire at Predaking. The heat was more intense than Predaking had ever felt. However, he charged through the fire and pinned the male to the ground. He roared in his faceplate and the male transformed into his robot mode.

"Okay! Okay!" he shouted, "You win! Now will ya get off me?!"

Predaking growled and glared at him. He heard footsteps running up behind him, and saw Skylynx and Darksteel standing on either side of him. Darksteel snickered, "This is the one who leveled an entire building? He doesn't even look like he's had his first flying contest!"

Predaking released the male and backed away. The male stumbled back and brushed the dirt off him.

"So, you're all my older brothers," he sneered, "I kinda figured you'd be bigger."

Predaking growled and transformed into his robot mode.

"What do you call yourself?"

The male crossed his servos, "And why would I tell you that?"

"Because unless you're stupid, you will answer your king when he addresses you," said Skylynx.

The male scoffed, "My king? I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not really the rule following type. And I'm not stupid."

Predaking growled, "Your demeanor suggests otherwise. But you are a creation of the Decepticon Shockwave, and it is my duty to bring you out from the oppression he inflicts."

"No need. I struck out earlier today. We had a little spat-fest and now he says he'll terminate me if I come back. Now, if we're done here…"

He turned around and started to walk away. Darksteel transformed into his beast mode and leaped in front of him shrieking. He stopped and turned to Predaking again.

"I was told that there were two of you," Predaking said. He saw the male's optics widen slightly, then he glowered at him.

"There wasn't another," he said. Predaking smirked, "Then why do you stay here?"

"I don't know really. Just… figuring things out."

"Then it would be no trouble to you if we search this area? One never knows what might be salvageable."

The male looked around and Predaking could tell that he was biting down on his glossa. Predaking looked over at Skylynx and Darksteel. They nodded and went to look through the rubble. The male looked around confused, then looked to Predaking and held his servos up.

"Okay, you got me. But she won't want to see you."

Darksteel looked over, "So, it is a femme."

The male glared at him. Predaking stepped up, "We shall try again. What is your name?"

"Dreadfire."

"We know what has happened to your mate, Dreadfire."

Dreadfire's optics nearly bugged out of him helm, "What? She's not my mate. And what's it to you about what happened?"

"In this new world, Predacons have the right to live out their lifetimes peacefully. I have made it my sworn duty to ensure that such a promise is kept."

Dreadfire looked down for a moment, "I find something like that hard to believe."

"Then I'll prove it to you. Return to Darkmount with us and you shall have what is rightfully yours."

Predaking waited for a response. After a nanocycles, Dreadfire looked up, "Follow me."

* * *

He led them to the farther end of the canyon. The scent of Energon from earlier was stronger back here, and Predaking could see tiny little droplets of it on the ground. They came to a dead end, but there were a few caves higher up on the wall.

"Wait here," said Dreadfire. He started climbing up to the mouth of one of the caves. When he got to the edge, he pulled himself up and disappeared into the dark. As they waited, they could hear soft whimpering and growling coming from inside. After a minute or so, Dreadfire helm poked back out.

"She said you can come up," he called down. Predaking started climbing up the ledge while Skylynx and Darksteel stay down on the ground. When he got inside, he found that the cave was just tall enough to touch the tips of his crest. On the ground, he saw a dragon's form lying on its right side. He could see the injury on her side. The spike had been removed and left a rather large, exposed opening. Energon leaked from it onto the ground. Dreadfire knelt down, "This is Terraclaw. She was hurt in a battle with the Autobots."

"I am well aware," said Predaking.

"How?"

"Because they contacted me." He walked over to the wound and bent down to examine it. Terraclaw hissed at him before he even touched it.

"Can you fix it?" Dreadfire asked. Predaking shook his helm, "I have never had any need for medical skills. And neither have the others."

Terraclaw craned her neck up and growled at him. He glared at her, "I'm not touching it! I know of only one other option."

She glared at him and snorted, then rested her helm back on the ground. Dreadfire narrowed his optics at him, "If you think I'll let the Autobots here again, then you're crazy."

Predaking ignored him and went over to the mouth of the cave. He looked down and shouted, "Skylynx, Darksteel, fly to Kaon and have the Autobots send a doctor immediately."

They transformed into their beast modes and flew out of the canyon. Once they were gone, he turned around to see Dreadfire stand up, glaring at him.

"If they come anywhere near here," he said coldly, "I will kill them and you will not keep me from that."

"Then you'll forfeit your spark and leave hers to rust in pain," Predaking said flatly. He turned his back and looked over the canyon. Terraclaw lifted her helm up a little and looked at him. Had she been in her robot mode, she would've been smirking. She liked the attitude of this poser, and wondered if it might come in handy someday.

**Hm, "other Predacons." Well, that can't be good news. **

**I'm glad I got this chapter out sooner rather than later. You should know that it'll be a little while before the next one comes out. I'm going on vacation, so my computer access will be about zip. So, if you don't hear from me for a while, know that it is not due to your lack of love :). In other news, I'M SO FLIPPIN' EXCITED FOR AGE OF EXTINCTION! We're gonna go see it on Saturday and I can't wait! Ahbublabalabaluh! XD **

**Wow, um, okay. Until the next chapter, keep following and leaving reviews! Oh, almost forgot. My original fiction I've been working on turned two this past Sunday so yay! Might help if I get around to actually writing it so people know about it lol. Have a great summer, all of you!**


	8. Chapter 8

Primeval

Chapter 8

Returning to Kaon was a mistake on Starscream's part. He didn't exactly figure that the Autobots would stay there and use the former _Decepticon _city as their new command center, not to mention the fact that the city was already swarming with Autobot refugees. He barely got around the borders without being seen. Since that time, Starscream had been poking around old Decepticon bases, at least the ones containing laboratories. He had been searching an entire decacycle for Shockwave, and nothing came up.

The only good thing that came out of scavenging was that he found the right equipment to repair himself. Many of his injuries weren't a problem, even with his limited medical experience, but his wing was still a bit of an issue. There wasn't exactly another piece of a Seeker wing lying around. He feared that his wing would be permanently damaged, not just for flying but also the electrical force surrounding it. After he got away from Darkmount, Starscream could already detect the lost in his wing sensors, and it was starting to turn into a problem. It was harder now to detect other energy signatures around him, making it difficult to tell whether or not he was alone. But now that he was basically out in the middle of nowhere, he didn't need to worry as much.

Starscream had found this one area near a former Energon mining operation. It had been shut down for ages after Energon veins ran dry, and it was still relatively the same. No one had come near here in the past few rotations. It had simply been forgotten, well, almost. Starscream saw it as the perfect hiding place. The mining site even had medical equipment for repairing damaged sensors. For the past couple of cycles, Starscream had been slowly trying to fix the end of his wing. So far, however, it was not going at all as planned.

"Ah! Slag!" Starscream's servo slipped and the laser wielder he was holding scraped against an uninjured part of his wing. His entire wing twitch in discomfort and he growled.

"What good is having all these tools if I can barely reach far enough to use them?" he muttered to himself. He threw down the wielder and vented in anger. What was the point? Even if he managed to repair his wing, what was he suppose to do now? If the Autobots found him, they would more than likely have him tried for war crimes, And well, when someone was found guilty of war crimes, that usually resulted in a quick termination. Starscream obviously didn't want that. This must have meant that he would have to always be on the run, hiding from society to merely live on until he off-lined. To think that he once held a powerful position in the Decepticon ranks. Now look at him, look how far he had fallen.

He picked up the wielder and brushed off some of the dust. He vented and reached back to try again, but froze. His good wing twitched nervously, sending chills through him. He made no move or sound, and listened carefully. Starscream could hear faint, but heavy footsteps somewhere in the mine. He couldn't tell if they were coming closer, or heading away from him. Setting down the wielder carefully, he stood up and tiptoed to the exit of the room he was in. He poked his helm out just a little, but saw nothing. He stepped out into the hall, but still nothing. Whatever was here was deeper in the mine than Starscream.

Listening to the footsteps, Starscream followed the sound down to where Energon crystals use to be mined. It was completely barren and cold, but the footsteps were louder down here. Starscream stopped for a moment and listened. The footsteps stopped and were replaced with shuffling and growling. He took a few more steps before his good wing jerked to the left. He looked at what caught its attention, and nearly fainted.

"A… A Predacon?" he gasped. Starscream ducked behind a crate before it could notice him. What would a Predacon be doing here? He peeked around to get a look of the beast. It was unfamiliar to him, which concerned him even more. It looked as though Shockwave did decide to continue the cloning process, without him. This beast was big and bulky, and it rummaged its nose through the junk on the ground. Starscream frowned; what was it doing? He leaned a little to try and get a better view, but his servo shifted under him and bumped a canister, knocking it over. He ducked back behind the crate before the Predacon could see him.

"Scrap, scrap, scrap!" he thought. He could hear the Predacon creeping over to where he was hiding. He curled up as tightly as he could and watched with wide optics as the Predacon's helm cast a large shadow over him. It looked around and sniffed the air for the cause of the noise. One of its clawed servos rested right next to Starscream, and he almost squeaked in fear. A line of drool dripped down from the Predacon's maw.

"I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I am going to die!" Starscream was just about ready to shout out loud and get it over with. The Predacon growled and he shut his optics tightly. But instead of attacking him, it leaped over him to a pile of scrap metal and started digging furiously. Starscream opened his optics and stared at the Predacon, not sure what it was doing. It stopped digging and held something in its mouth. It took Starscream a moment to realize that it was a bone, a Predacon bone. With it in its possession, the Predacon ran to the mine's exit and was gone.

Once it was gone, Starscream sat back and vented hard, almost not believing what just happened.

"Oh, Primus, a Predacon! Here? Why would it be out here? Wait… of course!"

This new Predacon, the bone, it all made sense. Shockwave was still going through with their plan to raise a Predacon army. He was using those already cloned to find more bones for him. What could he have possibly accomplished without Starscream's supervision. Actually, there was no way of really knowing. Unless…

"Alright, you mangy abomination," Starscream said, "You better have not flown off too far."

He transformed into a jet and flew after the Predacon.

"And you best lead me straight to Shockwave."

* * *

Cleaning off Smokescreen's armor took a lot longer than Knock Out had anticipated. It was prolonged to a point where Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee stuck around the med bay just to see how long it would take to remove all the soot. It bugged Smokescreen to the point that he grab a buffer of his own and started helping Knock Out buff off the rest of the black crust. While they kept buffing, Bumblebee and Bulkhead told Wheeljack about what happened in the canyon.

"You mean to tell me that you two went up and petted a Predacon?" Wheeljack asked.

"Bee did," said Bulkhead, "Not me. Not ever."

"Says the mech who Dreadfire gave a bath!" Bumblebee laughed. Bulkhead rolled his optics and pushed Bumblebee to the side. Wheeljack shrugged, "I don't know. Playing chicken with a Predacon like that, it'd sound pretty good on a resume."

Bumblebee and Bulkhead laughed and Knock Out looked over at him in disbelief, "You can't be serious. You know, tell you what, when you decide to stick your neck out and let the Predacons use your helm as a lollipop, I'll try my hardest to not say I told you so."

Smokescreen laughed and they finished up the last few spots of black on his paintjob. When they were gone, Smokescreen stood up and stretched, "Ah, I hate not moving around. It's the worst."

"So what now, chief?" Wheeljack turned to Bumblebee.

"Why are you asking me?" he said, "In case you didn't know, Ultra Magnus is in charge, and he's letting the Predacons deal with this mess."

"Yeah, but you see, I never liked the guy. Never have, never will. Sure you can tolerate someone, but that doesn't mean you have to like them."

"Wheeljack kinda does have a point," added Smokescreen, "Maybe we can't go after the Predacons from the valley, but we still have to find Shockwave."

"And let's face it, Magnus seems to want to stay out of the Predacons' way more than anything," said Wheeljack, "But at some point, we'll cross paths, whether we like it or not."

Bumblebee thought for a moment, "If there were a way we could talk to Dreadfire or Terraclaw, once Predaking gets them under control, maybe they would tell us about Shockwave's plan."

"Great plan, genius," said Knock Out, "Except that you missed one, tiny detail. Not. Our. Problem. Remember?"

"Yes, Knock Out, thank you for the clarity."

Before Knock Out could come up with a response, the monitor in the med bay beeped and Arcee's image appeared on the screen.

"What's up, 'Cee?" asked Bumblebee.

"Ultra Magnus wants you, Bulkhead and Knock Out up in the command center," she said. Knock Out frowned, "Why me?"

Arcee shrugged, "You'll have to find out for yourself. But I can tell you that the Predacons are here. So, hurry up you guys."

Her image disappeared and everyone looked at Knock Out. He was still looking up at the monitor with a blank stare. After a nanocycle, he looked around, completely silent, and vented.

"When I said I wanted to be on the winning team, I should've said that there would be a stopping point when it came to Predacons."

Wheeljack crossed his servos and smirked, "I think it's your problem now, lollipop."

Knock Out glared at him and Bumblebee intervened, "Let's just go see what they want."

From the corner of his optic, Bumblebee could see Knock Out jittering as they walked. He got the sense that, at some point, Knock Out might bolt just so he wouldn't have to face the Predacons. Sure enough, just as they were passing through intersecting halls, Knock Out ran to the right. Bumblebee caught his servo just in time.

"I don't care what they want," Knock Out protested, "I am not going to risk my spark by being around those freaks!"

"Quit acting like a sparkling!" Bumblebee tugged harder as Knock Out tried to pull away. Bulkhead went behind Knock Out, grabbed hold of one of his wheels, and lifted him off the ground.

"Ow, watch it!" Knock Out kicked in the air, trying to get down, then eventually stopped and crossed his arms.

"You wanna walk or be carried there?" Bulkhead said. Knock Out glared at him, then said, "Fine."

Bulkhead set him down and Knock Out groaned and continued down to the command center. When the three of them got there, Ultra Magnus was talking to Skylynx and Darksteel. Predaking was nowhere to be seen.

"You wanted us, sir?" said Bumblebee. Ultra Magnus turned, "Ah, yes. Predaking has asked if we would send a medic to repair the injured Predacon. Knock Out, since you are chief medical officer, you are the most likely choice."

"Um, no," Knock Out said flatly, "No. I refuse. Nope, try someone else. I am not going to risk being ripped to shreds for those beasts."

Bumblebee elbowed him, "Really?"

"Relax, Autobot," said Skylynx, "If we wanted to kill you, know that it would happened long ago."

Knock Out scoffed, "Yes, because that's clearly going to make things sound nicer."

"Regardless," said Ultra Magnus, "I'm sending Bumblebee and Bulkhead as backup. It shouldn't be a problem."

Everyone now had optics on Knock Out, waiting for a response. Finally, he rolled his optics and groaned, "Alright, fine! Just let me get my medical kit."

Darksteel stepped forward, "We are grateful that you're willing to help us."

"Save it." After Knock Out retrieved his medical kit, the five of them took a Ground-Bridge back to the canyon. Skylynx and Darksteel showed them to the cave where Predaking and the other two Predacons were. Skylynx looked up at the cave entrance, "My liege, we have found a doctor."

Knock Out, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead looked up and saw Predaking standing at the mouth of the cave. When he saw Knock Out, he nodded, "Very good. In here, but there is limited room."

Bumblebee looked over at Bulkhead, "You stay down here, Bulk. I'll go up with Knock Out."

Bulkhead nodded and Bumblebee and Knock Out started climbing up to the ledge. Before they got up there, they could hear growling coming from inside the cave. When they reached the top of the ledge, they could see Terraclaw's beast form lying on the ground with Dreadfire sitting next to her in his robot mode. The spike in her side was gone, but the exposed wound almost looked worst. Her helm lifted up and she growled at them. Knock Out gulped a little, "Uh, okay. Let's get this over with."

He went over and bent down next to Terraclaw. Reaching into his med kit, he pulled out a bio-scanner and checked over the wound. While he was busy, Dreadfire's optics locked on Bumblebee. It took a second for Bumblebee to notice, and once he did, they found themselves staring at each other. Now that the Predacon was in his robot mode and wasn't attacking him, Bumblebee could finally get a good look of this mech. He looked younger than the others, even though he was about the same size. He had what almost looked like a mane sticking out the back of his helm and down his neck cables, and there were black, symmetrical markings that looked like claw marks running down his faceplate and chassis. The markings made him look angrier than he probably already was. His chassis glowed a dim orange, as though he were ready to spit out a fire cloud. Before anything could happen, Terraclaw's helm reached back and snapped at Knock Out.

"Ah!" he stepped back just in time, "Primus, someone get this beast under control!"

Terraclaw groaned and screeched.

"She says that your making it hurt more, said Dreadfire, "That whatever you're trying to do is making it worst."

"Well, of course she would think that," said Knock Out, "The spike tore an opening in her fuel tank. It's not large, but it will be a problem if I don't repair it soon."

"Then do it quickly," said Predaking. Knock Out looked up at him, "You don't seem to understand. Damage to a fuel tank isn't as easy to fix as a mesh wound. I need an operating table, I need laser scalpels, I need stasis inducers, and I didn't exactly have time to bring those things."

Bumblebee thought for a moment, "Is there a way we could transport her to Kaon?"

Everyone else in the cave stared at him in disbelief. Knock Out scoffed, "Are you trying to look for ways to get us scrapped?"

"Is there?" Knock Out stammered, then vented, "Yes, unless you wanted to risk the sparks of the entire medical staff! Mine in particular!"

"We'll make a deal," Bumblebee turned to Predaking, "We can make sure that she gets the repair she needs, so long as she tells us where we can find Shockwave."

"Oh, you can't be serious," Knock Out tried to intervene, but was obviously ignored. Predaking eyed the both of them, wondering if he could fully trust them.

"Please, Predaking. This might be our only shot at stopping whatever Shockwave is planning," Bumblebee said. After a moment, Predaking nodded, "Very well."

Dreadfire jumped to his pedes and stood right up to Predaking.

"I have enough of an issue letting these Autobots come here," he said angrily, "But you're crazy if you think I'm gonna let them take her away."

"Look…" Bumblebee tried to intervene. Dreadfire turned and snapped at him, "Keep your mouth shut, scrap-eater! This is your fault! If it weren't for you, none of this would be happening!"

Bumblebee glared at him, "Unless you forgot, you attacked us first. So if you're gonna point digits, it's yourself you should blame."

"Whatever, slag-head." As they argued, Terraclaw rolled her optics. This was getting annoying and her side still hurt. To shut them up, she slammed her tail on the ground and howled. Everyone in the cave turned with surprised expressions on their faceplates. She hissed and groaned at Dreadfire.

"What? But Terra-" Dreadfire protested. She snarled at him and looked over at Bumblebee. Her helm dipped a little, like she was nodding. She then looked over at Dreadfire; he growled in hesitation, "She… She says she'll go."

"It is settled then," said Predaking, "Terraclaw will receive aid in Kaon, while the rest of us return to Darkmount."

Dreadfire looked at him bewildered, "What?!"

"I don't trust either of you, let alone trust that you two be in contact with one another. You will return to Darkmount with us, regardless of what you think. I am more than certain Terraclaw is capable of taking care of herself."

Dreadfire scoffed, "For letting me live the way I want, that's kinda restricting. And I'm not going to your little hideout."

Terraclaw hissed and he jumped a little. She glowered at him and he vented, "Fine, but I won't like it."

"I would not expect you to," said Predaking. Knock Out stood up, "If I might actually get a word in this time, how do you expect me to explain why we're bring a Predacon into the med bay?"

"Once we explain what we're doing, they'll understand," said Bumblebee, "Now, Let's get back before any more problems come up."

With Predaking and Dreadfire's help, they managed to get Terraclaw out of the cave and back on the ground. She could walk a little on her own, but with a serious limp. Knock Out activated him comm link, "Knock Out to med bay, prepare the largest operating room and clear out any patients in there. I'll tell you when we arrive… Because that's only when you'll believe it."

Bulkhead and Dreadfire eyed each other, remembering what happened in their last encounter, and quickly decided to ignore each other. Knock Out turned to Bumblebee, "Now, what's your plan on how to explain this to Magnus?"

"I'll explain to him once we get Terraclaw in the med bay," said Bumblebee. With reluctance, Dreadfire went with Predaking and the others as they flew back to Darkmount. Bumblebee called for a Ground-Bridge directly to the med bay. When asked why, he said it would make sense in a nanocycle.

"'Bee, I'm not so sure this is wise," said Bulkhead. Knock Out rolled his optics, "Join the club."

Terraclaw eyed them both, as though making sure they knew that she could still hear them. Bumblebee vented, "I'm not too sure about it either, Bulk, but this could be our first lead in a while. We have to try."

"Well, if she's like other femmes I've come across, that'll be a tough lead to follow," said Knock Out. Terraclaw hissed at him, her crest flaring up a bit, and he jumped back a little spooked.

"If she's anything like the femmes you've told us about, I'd shut up," replied Bulkhead. Knock Out glared at him and waited for the Ground-Bridge to the med bay. It appeared in short time and they walked Terraclaw through.

* * *

Before they even made it to the other side, Knock Out already knew that the other medical officers would be horrified to see a giant beast-bot walking through the portal, even if it was injured. While some had chosen to remain a pacifist during the war, all of them would not hesitate to arm them selves with something. And a medical station had a number of different tools that would suffice as weapons.

"Hold on," Knock Out said. He ran ahead through the vortex and appeared in the med bay. There were four medics already there, awaiting the patient.

"Well?" one of them asked, "What is it that we have to see to believe?"

"Just a heads up, don't freak out, we've got this under control. At least, I hope."

"What are you talking about?" Before the other medics could decipher what he meant, Bumblebee and Bulkhead came through the Ground-Bridge with Terraclaw. Upon seeing the Predacon, the medics yelped and scrambled away as far back as they could. As Knock Out suspected, many of them grabbed for the nearest scalpel in their reach, and pointed it near them.

"Knock Out," said the first medic, "Please tell me you haven't gone and lost your processor somewhere out in the canyon."

Terraclaw glared at the medic, but then relaxed as though this were completely normal.

"First of all, this wasn't my idea," said Knock Out, "I think it's a terrible idea and there's a good chance we could get shredded into scrap metal."

"How enlightening," said another medic. As Terraclaw took steps closer to them, the medics stepped back as fast and far as they could, but they were running out of space to back into. Without paying much else attention to them, Terraclaw eased herself up on the operating table, laid down on her side, and waited patiently, eying Knock Out. He looked at her, a little unsure of what exactly happened, then shrugged and turned back to the medics.

"Now, was that so hard?" he asked, "Far be it from me to agree to such a notion, but this might actually help prevent another catastrophe like the building fire."

They all frowned at him in confusion. When they still didn't move, Knock Out rolled his optics and went over to one of the supply tables. He looked for a minute and found a syringe filled with a fast-working stasis inducer. Very calmly, he walked back over next to Terraclaw and looked back at Bumblebee and Bulkhead.

"When this is over," he told Bumblebee, "It's your problem. Understand?"

Bumblebee nodded, "I know. That's what I figured."

Knock Out nodded and waved his servo, "Now get out. I'm about to start surgery."

He injected the syringe underneath Terraclaw's forearm. Her optics started to close and she rested her helm on the operating table. Bumblebee and Bulkhead looked at each other, then left the med bay. Once they were gone, Knock Out looked over to make sure she was in stasis. Once he was certain, he scrambled to put on restraints on her servos and neck.

The first medic scoffed, "Was it not under control enough for you?"

Knock Out glared at him, "I don't care what Bumblebee or any of them say. I don't trust any of these beasts and I'll be glad when this one is gone."

He pulled a muzzle over Terraclaw's maw, and slowly the other medics etched closer to the gigantic bot. Once they were absolutely certain it couldn't attack, they were intrigued.

"Quite a remarkable specimen, when you think about it," said the second medic.

"Yes, you can see some of the similarities of the under armor between them and us," said the third.

"Comrades," said Knock Out, "The sooner this is over with, the sooner we can feel safe again."

"Right," said the first medic, "So, what's the issue?"

Knock Out indicated the open wound, "Incision in the fuel tank here. Not that major, but it's probably been like that for a few hours."

"Sounds easy enough. Let's get to work."

**Bonjour, I'm back! **

**Sorry for the delay. I got back home around mid-July, but I had to play catch-up with my summer reading ('cause I did like none of it beforehand), and school started about two weeks ago. I was actually able to finish this thanks to a little virus that kept me home for two days. Sounds nice, but only if you don't have four AP classes (esh). **

**So yes, Bumblebee's plan was not the smartest thing to do. Even while I was writing, I was thinking, "'Bee, this is really stupid!" Oh well. I was gonna have another little scene with Starscream, but I'm still a little iffy on what exactly I'm gonna do with him. I have an idea, of course, I just don't know if y'all will like it. Until then, I'll do my best to update whenever I can. Have a good start of the school year! **


	9. Chapter 9

Primeval

Chapter 9

The numbness from the stasis inducer was beginning to wear off. Terraclaw began to feel some consciousness return to her helm and slowly travel down her neck cables. She never had a recharge like this before, at least since coming out of her embryonic container, and wished she could go back into a similar recharge. The pain receptors in her side had been disabled for the operation, but she ran a quick diagnostics test over the patch. All seemed fine, improved even. When the feeling returned to the ends of her digits, she shifted her frame slightly, then froze, her optics snapping open.

"_Oh, of course,"_ she thought to herself. She would've been surprised, a little insulted even, if they didn't think to put restraints on her. Though he acted calm and collective, the red one was obviously scared out of his wits even being in the same room with her. She tugged a bit at the straps; they were strong, but not quite designed to hold even a small Predacon like herself. She mused at the though of what might happen if she broke free of them. Panic? Undoubtedly. Chaos? Absolutely. It sounded like so much fun!

But Terraclaw stopped herself. Even though she did want to cause some trouble, there was a slight compulsion to keep herself from doing so. Maybe as a way to thank the Autobots? If that was the reason, it was a stupid one.

Now she wanted to snap off the restraints just to move around and stretch more easily. She was about to when the door to the operating bay hissed open, and two voices were talking. It was two of the other medics from before. Terraclaw closed her optics before they could realize she was awake.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" one of them said.

"I'm telling you, that's what I heard," said the second.

"Moon zombies? That doesn't really seem possible."

"Really! I heard one of them was a spider-bot who got infected with some weird voodoo Energon, then they all got transported to one of the moons and she drank up all their Energon and infected them too!"

"You're a doctor. Are you really gonna believe in some 'voodoo Energon' scrap?"

"You don't know. Maybe it could happen!"

The first medic vented and the door hissed open again.

"What are you two blabbering on about?" it was the red medic.

"Colonel Superstition here thinks that there are 'moon zombies' inhabiting one of the far-orbit moons."

"Oh, you could call it the Undead Moon!" the second medic exclaimed. The first medic vented again and the red medic chuckled nervously, "Heh, yes, well, anyway. Come over and help me with this."

Terraclaw heard them walk over next to her. She opened her optic slightly and saw the red medic reach over for a syringe.

"Grab a couple of stunners, just in case."

"Are you sure we need to wake her up?" said the second medic.

"Unfortunately," said the red medic, "I need to make sure she's responding well to the treatment. But I'm bringing in guards once we remove the restraints."

The second Terraclaw realized what he was doing, she felt a sharp point in the side of her abdomen. She gulped; the syringe had been filled with an adrenaline substitute. They still thought she was in recharge, deep recharge. She calculated that the amount given was enough to bring her out into consciousness. But since she was already awake, that meant-

_Uh oh._

* * *

"Well, that went a lot easier than I expected."

Bumblebee finally finished explaining the deal they made with the Predacons to Ultra Magnus. It began mostly with disbelief, then began to spiral into some "what were you thinking" questions, followed by a "putting others in danger" lecture, and finally ending with some slight acknowledgement that this could work, but with an "I can't believe I put you in charge of this" vibe. But Bumblebee was right; it could've gone worse.

"So, what do we do now?" Bulkhead asked. Bumblebee thought for a moment, "Knock Out still has to finish up the surgery. Once he's ready, we'll come in and ask about Shockwave. Hopefully, we can get enough information to start tracking him down."

Bulkhead stopped for a moment, "I think it's a smart idea, 'Bee. But I can't help but have some doubts."

"What do you mean?"

Bulkhead turned to him, "I just don't know if it's a good idea to put so much faith in trusting the Predacons."

"I'm not so sure either."

"Then why try it?"

Bumblebee shrugged, "It's all we've got to work with."

They continued down the hall until Arcee turned a corner and bumped into them. She was carrying a few of data pads, and didn't notice them. They clatter to the floor and she groaned.

"Really, Bulk?" She started picking them up and Bulkhead bent down to help her. Bumblebee reached down and picked one up.

"What are these?" he asked.

"Some old data files I found on Shockwave's biggest lab operations," said Arcee, "They're mostly just reports on progress. Magnus wanted to take a look at them, anyway."

Bumblebee opened up the one he was holding. The title read, "Project Metamorphosis."

"What's Metamorphosis?" he asked.

"Didn't get to look at that one. How did he take you negotiation idea?"

"Well, it could've gone a lot worse. He didn't like it that I already made a deal with the Predacons, but he's willing to see it through."

"It's better than nothing. But once you finish your negotiation with the Predacon, I'd like to have a little talk with her myself."

"How come?" Bulkhead asked. Before Arcee could answer, the intercom above their helms started blaring.

"_Warning: hostile is loose in the medical bay. Repeat: hostile is loose in the medical bay." _

Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead all looked at each other, dropped the data pads, and bolted in the direction of the med bay. It wasn't that far away, and they could already hear banging and crashing. Once they got there, there were medical tools and tables thrown out into the hallway. They could hear someone shouting, but it was mostly blocked over the sound of shrieking.

They looked in and saw that everything from tables, medical instruments, and monitors was either overturned, shredded, or hanging from the ceiling. They saw Knock Out and two other medics huddled underneath the operating table used for Terraclaw's surgery. Only, she wasn't there anymore. Instead, she was crawling on the walls, jumping on top of monitors, and knocking over anything she saw standing.

Bulkhead and Arcee drew out their blasters, but Bumblebee held his hand up.

"Wait a second!" he said before they could shoot. They powered down their weapons, and watched her carefully. She wasn't exactly attacking them or the medics. She just looked like she was in a bit of a frenzy, given that she moved around at an unusually fast rate. Bumblebee looked over at Knock Out and motioned him and the two medics over to where they were standing. They waited until Terraclaw was on the other side of the room, and then rushed out and over to the med bay entrance. Bumblebee turned to Knock Out, "What happened?"

"How should I know?!" shouted Knock Out, "I was just about to check over her vitals and then she went nuts!"

They watched and Terraclaw hopped onto the overhead light and hung upside down from it. She hooked her back pedes to the sides of the lamp and transformed into her robot mode. She looked around bewildered.

"Wwwwoooooowww!" she shouted, "I-haven't-felt-this-great-since-we-torched-that-facility! Do-you-know-how-hard-it-is-to-get-some-entertainment-with-a-job-like-mine? Near-impossible-it's-so-frustrating!"

She spoke with speed that made Bumblebee think of his old friend, Blurr. She flipped back onto the ground, landing on her pedes.

"But-if-I'm-being-completely-honest-that-is-probably-the-dumbest-thing-I've-ever-seen-a-medic-do. I-mean-who-gives-a-patient-adrenaline-without-checking-if-they're-awake-or-not? News-flash-I-was-FULLY-AWAKE-when-you-just-decided-to-shoot-me-up-like-that! Chief-medical-officer-my-aft. Did-you-become-a-medic-as-a-side-hobby? Whatever-I-don't-care. The-mess-was-an-accident-I-swear-but-in-my-defense-a-good-number-of-the-stuff-here-needs-to-be-bolted-down-in-place-I-mean-it's-probably-not-going-to-go-anywhere. Speaking-of-going-anywhere-where-can-I-get-Energon-I'm-absolutely-STARVING!"

She took a quick breath in and jumped back on top of the lamp. The six Autobots all looked at each other in confusion at what just happened. Terraclaw started swinging around the lamp, still talking.

"But-I-would-really-like-to-know-where-you-get-all-of-your-Energon. Cybertronians-are-absolutely-amateurs-at-finding-Energon-pockets-they-could-be-right-under-your-nose-and-you-wouldn't-even-know-it! But-it-really-doesn't-matter-I-guess-you'll-find-all-of-them-eventually-it-really-doesn't-matter! Hey-that-reminds-me-_If-I-had-been-so-lucky-as-to-have-a-steady-mother-Who-could-talk-to-me-as-we-are-talking-now-to-one-another-Who-could-give-me-good-advice-when-she-discovered-I-was-erring-Which-is-just-the-very-favour-which-on-you-I-am-conferring-My-existence-would-have-made-a-rather-interesting-idyll-And-I-might-have-lived-and-died-a-very-decent-indiwiddle-This-particularly-rapid-unintelligible-patter-Isn't-generally-heard-and-if-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-If-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-If-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-If-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-If-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-This-particularly-rapid-unintelligible-patter-Isn't-generally-heard-and-if-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-This-particularly-rapid-unintelligible-patter-Isn't-generally-heard-and-if-it-is-it-doesn't-matter-matter-matter-matter-matter-matter-matter-matter-matter!_"

Upon finishing the last word, Terraclaw took a deep breath in and collapsed on top of the lamp. They could still hear her venting rapidly. Everyone turned to Knock Out slowly.

"Uh…" he stammered, "Evidently, she was conscious when the injection was made."

"You think?" Arcee commented. She, Bumblebee and Bulkhead slowly walked up under the lamp. Knock Out and the other medics stayed back. They weren't keen on getting any closer. Arcee and Bulkhead kept their weapons out, just in case she went off again.

"Um," Bumblebee started to say, "Terraclaw?"

"What?" she responded annoyed, still panting. They couldn't see her from where they were standing. All they could really do was talk and hope she would listen.

"Are you, uh, okay now?" Bumblebee asked.

"I'm surrounded by idiots, what do you think?"

All three of them frowned at that comment. Bumblebee shook his helm and vented, "Are you coming down or not?"

"I think not," Terraclaw responded, "Especially not after the amount of stupidity you rubber-burners have shown to possess."

"Hey," said Bulkhead, "We made a deal. When you got better, you'd tell us where Shockwave is."

"I did, didn't I? Tell me, has the double full moon cycle passed? I would know; I've been stuck in a cave for a couple of days."

"Yeah," Bumblebee answered, "Why?"

"Then any information on Shockwave's whereabouts I possess is completely useless."

Arcee scoffed, "What are you saying?"

Terraclaw poked her helm out from the side of the lamp and looked down at them. She rolled her optics as if they had missed something.

"He moves to a different laboratory every double full moon. He never told us where it was until it was time to move. All we had to do was get back in time before getting left in the dust. He's got plenty of places to hide out in."

"So, you don't know where he is?" Bulkhead asked. Terraclaw cocked her helm, "I don't know how everything I just said would suggest otherwise."

"You're telling us that we're no closer to finding Shockwave then we first started?" Arcee asked. Terraclaw's helm disappeared, and then they saw the claws on her pedes hook back onto the edge of the lamp. She swung upside down again and crossed her servos. She was tall enough that she could hang from the edge and be at exact optic level with Arcee.

"Essentially. But I got fixed up, that's the important part." Terraclaw and Arcee started glaring at each other. After a second, Terraclaw's glare disappeared. Arcee was confused as Terraclaw leaned closer and studied her.

"Interesting," she said out loud. None of them understood what she meant. Bumblebee was about to asked her, but then she pulled back her helm, a look of shock on her faceplate.

"Oh," she said softly.

"What?" Arcee said, wanting to know what she meant.

"It's, uh… Sorry," Terraclaw wasn't quite sure what to say, "You should know, he… he died bravely."

Arcee stepped back in disbelief. Bumblebee could see the feeling of hurt in her optics. She vented and looked back up at Terraclaw.

"Did you kill him?"

"No. If I had, I would at least have the decency to leave him for you to bury."

Arcee looked at the floor and glowered. It took everyone else this long to figure out that they were referring to Prowl. Arcee vented and looked over at Bumblebee.

"When we find Shockwave," she said, "I'm going to use his ugly, red optic for target practice."

Bumblebee nodded, grinning a bit at the idea, "So, Terraclaw."

Terraclaw twisted her servos to make the lamp turn to his direction. She crossed her servos, "Yup?"

"If Shockwave isn't at the last lab you guys were, what's another way we can find him?"

She thought for a moment, "Off the top of my processor, I can't quite say. Like I said, he's got a lot of different places he can use for cloning."

"So he is creating more Predacons?"

She nodded, "I would tell you more on everything he's planning exactly, but he's got a trust issue thing. He only told us what was going to happen just before it did."

"What can you tell us?"

"That he is planning a coup d'état à la Predacon, and I think you should be very concern."

Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Knock Out all looked at each other with nervous expressions.

"Uh," Knock Out said mildly, "To what extent should we be worried exactly?"

Terraclaw looked over at him and chuckled, "I'd say around the "wait, we just tried to invade Russia in the winter" to that thing I heard about Unicron destroying the planet level of concern."

**Applause for Terraclaw and her **_**Pirates of Penzance **_**moment. That was literally my favorite part of writing this whole chapter. **

**Yes, I know that Terraclaw wouldn't know anything about Earth or Russia, but I still wanted to put that in there. It's just never a good idea to try and invade Russia in the winter. You realize that when everyone's dead. Sorry for the long wait, it's just been impossible to get any free time to write or do much of anything. It's now a daily goal to fit in relaxing time. So sad ;( **

**I will be more diligent with my writing, though. If you guys just keep bugging me about updates, that'll probably make me was to write more. Please review/favorite/follow! **


	10. Chapter 10

Primeval

Chapter 10

"Pull!"

At that signal, Darksteel swung a large piece of metal out toward the open plain. Skylynx, who was in his beast mode, waited until it was out a little farther, then shot a fireball at the flying metal. It hit home and knocked the metal into a different direction.

"Again?" Darksteel asked. Skylynx nodded and Darksteel went to look for another piece. Dreadfire sat off to the side, watching dully as they kept firing at one piece after the other. In the time since they had returned to Darkmount, this was all they had really done. Target practice was fun if you were aiming for improvement on accuracy, but Skylynx was hitting targets in the very middle each time. It had gotten very dull very fast. Watching them, Dreadfire felt as though his processor was working much slower than it already was.

"Pull!" Skylynx shouted again. Darksteel threw the metal; Skylynx waited, and then shot it down. Dreadfire finally couldn't take much more of this. Standing up, he said, "So, just to clear things up, is this all you ever do?"

"Not always," replied Darksteel, "Sometimes we brawl, other times we have flying contests. We've sometimes wondered about fixing this place up, but there's a larger desire to not want to."

"So, you just sit on your afts all day doing nothing?"

Skylynx transformed into his robot mode, "In case you haven't noticed, there isn't exactly that much for us to do. We have to improvise with what we've got."

Dreadfire frowned, "That sounds boring."

Skylynx scoffed, "Well, if you're tired of being bored, then why don't you take a shot?"

"Um…" Dreadfire hesitated, "I'm not too good a shot."

"Load of scrap," said Darksteel, "You'd have to be half blind with Energon discharge to be a bad shot. I bet you're just scared."

Dreadfire glowered at him, but didn't have a good enough comeback for that statement. Darksteel smirked and crossed his servos. Dreadfire growled; he walked over to where Skylynx was and transformed into his beast mode.

"Alright then," Skylynx said. He went and found a piece of metal to throw, and waited for Dreadfire's signal.

"Pull!" Dreadfire shouted. Skylynx launched the metal in the air. Dreadfire let the fire build up in his chest, and then let it loose in the direction of the flying metal. But instead of a straight line of fire, like Skylynx and Darksteel had done, a giant cloud of scorching fire erupted from his maw. Despite its immense size, it didn't stretch out to the piece of metal that had been thrown. Once the cloud dissipated, the metal landed far out into the territory, unscathed.

Dreadfire transformed back into his robot mode, "Told you."

Skylynx raised his brow, "Bad shot or not, I like the effect."

"How'd you learn to do that?" Darksteel asked. Dreadfire looked at him, "I didn't. In my last few stages as an embryo, Shockwave took out my flame rectifier and increase my heat storage capacity. I guess he wanted to see how hot a head he could make."

Skylynx and Darksteel looked at each other in confusion. Darksteel turned back to Dreadfire, "Why would he wanna do that?"

"He's been doing weird stuff lately. You should see the other modifications he's done."

Skylynx perked up, "Other modifications? Am I right in assuming that there are other Predacons?"

Dreadfire nodded. Darksteel whooped, "Thank the Allspark! I was hoping there would be a lot more! How many are there?"

"A lot. I don't know how many really, but a lot."

"Define a lot," Skylynx mocked. Dreadfire thought for a moment, "I know we've got a couple dozen dens across the planet. And… I forget how many are in each one."

Skylynx groaned, "Is there anything you can remember?"

Dreadfire shrugged, "Remembering wasn't my part of the job. That was always Terraclaw's job."

"Speaking of which," Darksteel said in a smug manner, "When shall said Preda-femme come to join our merry little band?"

Dreadfire glared at him, then rolled his optics, "How 'bout you take that question to her when she gets back? I'm sure she'd _love _it."

"Hm, I will."

"Back to the main question," Dreadfire turned to Skylynx, "Doesn't Predaking have you do anything around here?"

"When we first got here, we did try searching for Energon around the area," Skylynx replied, "But we've been coming up empty for a while. This place is scarce."

"Really? I've been to some pretty empty places, but I can still find it."

"Oh, really?" Skylynx crossed his servos, "Among the three of us, I'm the best Energon tracker here. If you say you can find Energon anywhere, then go for it."

He pointed out at the empty plain. From this view, it looked completely barren. Dreadfire looked out at the plain, then back at Skylynx. Skylynx glared at him, and then left without a word. Dreadfire frowned in confusion.

"Don't take it so personally," Darksteel told him, "He's a bit of a kiss-aft when it comes to be Predaking's favorite. He doesn't want anyone to take his place."

"He literally only has two options."

"All the more reason to be the favorite."

Dreadfire rolled his optics. They had favorites here; of course they did, what else were they going to do?

"Oh, and I'm coming with you, too," Darksteel said, "I wanna see how you track Energon."

"Fine. Whatever."

They transformed into their beast modes and took off into the air. Dreadfire scanned the ground as they flew. When they were above an open field, they started to lower to the ground. The instant he made contact with the ground, Dreadfire started digging. Despite the ground being made of metal, he had no trouble tearing it away, sparks flying. However, it did take a while to dig away the first few layers. Darksteel watched with some curiosity as he dug about a servos length down. Dreadfire kept digging until he was in the hole, and even longer until it was three times his height. All Darksteel could do was watch the bits of metal layers fly out. But after a while, it wasn't just metal being flung out. Dark gray bits of dirt intermixed with the metal and slowly increased in amount. After a while, that was all that Dreadfire was digging out of the hole. Soon, the dirt stopped flying. Dreadfire's helm popped over the edge, his servos and crest covered with the dirt.

"No Energon, huh?" he said. He climbed back over the edge and shook all of the dirt off his frame and wings. Darksteel went over to the dirt pile that had accumulated and sniffed at it. It smelled metallic and, almost not surprisingly, like Energon residue.

"What is this stuff?" Darksteel asked. Dreadfire transformed into his robot mode and continued brushing the dirt off.

"Whenever me and Terraclaw went looking for Energon, we always looked for that stuff. Terraclaw told me that Energon deposits start under the dirt to get away from the metal layers, so there's nothing impure. See? I can remember stuff."

Darksteel transformed into his robot mode. He scooped some of the dirt in his servo and felt it.

"Oily," he observed, "Why's it oily?"

Dreadfire came over and felt the dirt too. He chuckled, "However much Energon is here, we're not that far from it."

Darksteel let the dirt fall from his servo onto the metal ground. He turned to Dreadfire, with almost an angry look on his faceplate.

"So, you're telling me that I've been sitting out here, while my fuel tanks are slowly eating away at my circuits, and the whole time there's been Energon right under my aft?"

Dreadfire thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Then why the slag are you standing up here looking at your dirt pile!" Darksteel shouted. He transformed into his beast mode and leaped into the hole. Dreadfire saw more dirt bits thrown over the edge. Dreadfire rolled his optics at his childish behavior. At least they had stopped shooting fireballs.

* * *

It had taken just as long, if not longer, as he would've estimated for the Predacon he was tracking to finally return to wherever Shockwave was hiding out. It had been days since he began following the creature. It was a miracle that it hadn't caught his scent. The wind was coming from in front of them. Maybe luck was finally on his side.

Even if Shockwave refused to talk to him, Starscream would still figure out a way for him to talk about the Predacon project. He still couldn't believe that Shockwave didn't go out looking for him, and instead continued cloning. Perhaps he thought that Starscream was dead. Whatever the case, Starscream still wanted answers.

He watched as the Predacon started to descend towards the ground, where a cluster of demolished buildings lay. Starscream followed, being sure to keep a safe distance so he wouldn't be heard. It landed next to what looked like some kind of entrance, a hole large enough for it to fit through. With the bone in its maw, it went through, still not noticing Starscream behind him. Starscream lowered himself further away from the entrance and transformed into his robot mode. He walked over to the entrance, but before he stepped inside, there was growling and snarling coming from the depths. He jumped back to the side. What was he doing? He had no idea what was down there. There could be even more Predacons, waiting to trap him, tear off his limbs, and play free-for-all with his corpse! Who was to say that Shockwave was even here?

"Get a hold of yourself," Starscream told himself. If Shockwave was here, then he would probably have a better chance of surviving than he did out on his own. That is, if Shockwave didn't have some reason to be mad at him again. He did have a tendency to do that. Starscream heard the growling coming from the entrance again. He transformed his servos into blasters and slowly walked into the entrance.

It was getting darker as he walked further. Starscream was growing more and more tempted to go back the way he came, and forget that he ever saw this place. But to go back would mean surviving, and probably failing to do so, on his own. Either that or be discovered by the Autobots somehow. But If Shockwave was here, than he would prefer this option over the other two. This choice was better.

Just before it was too dark for Starscream to see, a light began to emanate from around a corner several feet away. He went over and peeked around. A light was shining above two different pathways. The growling he heard earlier resonated from the left, and the right was relatively silent. Starscream peeled to the right and continued walking until he came across a lit hallway. It was small and clutter, but clearly not abandoned. There were empty Energon cubes that stacked against the walls, some of them with small droplets of Energon still in them. An abandoned laboratory would never have Energon left behind.

Starscream walked slowly through the hall, checking each door he past by. Each room was empty, but there weren't that many to begin with. It was smaller than Starscream had seen compared to some of Shockwave's other offsite laboratories. He might have been running out of places to hide out, or he just needed to relocate quickly and this was closest. Starscream was about to look into another when he heard voices. One of them was definitely Shockwave's, and the other he couldn't quite identify.

"We just got these other fifteen in the past cycle. I've sent out some groups to the Northern Plains. I think we'll have some better luck there. The mines didn't work as well as I thought they would."

"Very well. Take the newly acquired bones directly to the cloning facility tomorrow. I will be supervising the activation of the cultivated embryos, and I cannot be disturbed. Send out twice as many scouts tomorrow; I need more fossils ready for preparation, and your acquisition of them has not been able to stay course with my work."

"Fine, but there won't be as many to go and find Energon. We're running low on rations."

Starscream peeked around the corner as quietly as he could. He could see Shockwave talking with a black and white Predacon, not the same one he saw in the mine. He talked to this Predacon as thought he were a normal Cybertronian.

"That we will address later. The other specimens will manage until then."

"Hm." From here, the Predacon sounded more reasonable than the others Starscream had to face. He stepped into the doorway with more confidence than he would have had otherwise.

"I must say, Shockwave," he boasted, "I knew that you could manage surviving on your own, but you've come a long way in not very much time."

Shockwave and the Predacon turned and looked at him in surprise. The Predacon didn't know what to make of him, but Shockwave's tone was grim, "Starscream. How did you locate me?"

"When you send out your Predacon lackeys, make sure that they can actually smell what's around them. I have actually been looking for you for a while."

"Since your disappearance after the battle against Unicron, I presumed that you had been terminated, and thus continued my experiments with no delay."

Starscream nodded, "I guessed that. Though I haven't seen much, it's clear that you've done an exceptional job building _our _army."

The Predacon looked back at Shockwave, "Who does skinny legs think he is?"

"For your information, beast, I am Commander Starscream, Megatron's most loyal servant, one of the greatest leaders in Decepticon history, and most importantly, your superior. So you will watch your tongue."

The Predacon glared at him. He stepped forward, but Shockwave caught his servo.

"Enough, Maelstormer," he said, "Starscream, was is it you want?"

Starscream shrugged, "Our partnership had a bit of an abrupt ending, but I think we can both agree that we can pick up the pieces and start again, wouldn't you say?"

"You assume that I would need your assistance in any aspect these days."

Starscream's brow furrowed. Shockwave continued, "From my observations, both those taken during your absence and during my isolation before the activation of the Omega Lock, advances in my projects reach tenfold when not confronted by interlopers. The Predacons that have resulted from my cloning project understand that it is logical to complete any task that I assign to them, whatever it might be, a concept you seem to not fully grasp."

Starscream glared at him.

"I have arrived at the conclusion that your involvement will slow the production of my experiments," Shockwave said, "Or will run the risk of their annihilation."

"Is that so?" Starscream growled, "Do you expect me to simply leave with a huff just because you said no?"

"That would be illogical. But it is a reasonable assumption that you also located me in hopes of finding some asylum from the Autobots. If you are bent on working to build up a new army…"

Shockwave turned to Maelstormer, "Inform Steelblaze that he will no longer be tasked with distributing Energon rations or any task of the like. He will now join with scouting for new fossils."

Starscream stepped back confused, "Wait, what?"

"If you think I am going to put you in a position of any kind of power, you are very mistaken. I will not risk allowing your incompetence to destroy my work again. Maelstormer?"

Maelstormer transformed into his beast mode and leaped at Starscream. He yelped and tried to duck, but Maelstormer grabbed a hold of his pede. His denta sank a little into Starscream's pede and he yelped. He looked up at Shockwave, his anger seething.

"I have a sense that this experience will be somewhat enlightening for you," Shockwave said. Maelstormer started to drag Starscream away. Starscream clawed at the ground, trying to pull himself away.

"Shockwave!" he shouted down the hall, "You traitor! You will pay for this!"

**Tsk, tsk, tsk. Whoops. **

**Thank you those who have been faithful to this story. I know it's taking longer for chapters to come out, and I'm trying my best. The new semester just started so I'll definitely have more time to write. Leave a review/follow/favorite until then! **


	11. Chapter 11

Primeval

Chapter 11

The moment Ultra Magnus heard about the incident in the medical bay, he quickly started making his way down there. He would have been there sooner, but his previous wounds from his last Predacon encounter still haunted him, even though it was forever ago since it happened. He expected that the rest of Team Prime made it down there already. The warning from the intercom was shut off, so they either contained the Predacon, or something had gone wrong.

When he arrived in the medical bay, Ultra Magnus saw Knock Out and two other medics standing outside of the operating room when Knock Out had performed the procedure on the female Predacon. They were all looking into the room. Ultra Magnus noticed that some instruments were flung onto the ground. The medics didn't notice him until he came up behind them.

"What happened?" he asked flatly. They all jumped a little and turned around. Knock Out caught his breath when he realized it was just him.

"Ah, sir, yes," he stammered, "We've, uh, been able to get things back under control. There was a slight mishap with the procedure."

Ultra Magnus looked down at the wreckage, "It looks like more than a slight mishap."

Knock Out laughed nervously. He let Ultra Magnus step into the trashed medical bay. At first, he was confused. Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen we standing in the middle of the room looking up at the overhead light. The Predacon, however, was nowhere in sight.

"What happened in here?" he demanded to know. They all looked over at him in surprise.

"Magnus," Arcee started, "We have it under control now. She just went a little wild for a minute."

"I gathered that, but where is she?"

Smokescreen pointed up at the lamp. When Ultra Magnus looked up to see what he meant, he finally understood. Though he couldn't see her entire form, the Predacon's servos and pedes hung over the edge of the lamp. It swung back and forth slightly, and she wouldn't look down at them. He frowned, "What is the meaning of this?"

"You might call it 'firmly resisting the law,'" Bumblebee told him, "After we got some information on Shockwave, she pulled herself back up there and said she wasn't coming down."

"And you've done nothing else?"

"No offense, sir, but I decided long ago that I would never get on her bad side again," said Smokescreen. Ultra Magnus glared at him in annoyance. Without a word, he went over to a control panel next to the exit of the operating room. There was a switch that lowered the overhead lamp when needed. He turned the switch all the way off and let the lamp crash to the floor. Everyone jumped back in surprise, glad that they weren't standing underneath it before. The female Predacon screeched in surprise.

"Well, now she's on _my_ bad side," Ultra Magnus said. Still on her back, the female Predacon looked up at him with a mixed look of humor and anger. She pushed herself off the ground and onto her pedes, turning and walking up to him slowly, her anger somewhat seething. Ultra Magnus was somewhat surprised; he knew that since Predacon males were much taller than Cybertronian males, it would make sense that the females would be taller as well. Still, he wasn't quite expecting her to be just slightly taller than him.

"Bad side?" she asked in a smooth tone, "Oh, sweetspark, if you're going to talk bad sides, I'm all audio receptors. Tell me, is a bad side for you when a pint size bot can't remember every article in the Autobot code, or when you have to smile in order to stop a swarm of Nanocons? I'm always on my bad side, there's never an actual good mood for me. So unless you want to see my _worse _side, I might suggest not dropping me several feet above the ground!"

Ultra Magnus narrowed his optics at her. He knew from experience that Predaking would know what amount of respect to so, and he would make sure that his followers would do the same. This Predacon, however, completely lacked that kind of respect, and it annoyed him beyond belief.

They glared at each other for what seemed like forever. The threat of an attack felt like it was choking the air. Finally, Bumblebee intervened, "So, uh, Terraclaw, any ideas now about how to find Shockwave?"

Terraclaw turned to him, "I didn't have an idea a few minutes ago and I don't have one now. I may like to think I'm a super computer, but I'm sadly not. However, I do believe that I was promised a one way trip out of here once I was all better."

"Yeah, once you told us how we can find Shockwave," said Bulkhead. She turned to him, "Well, aren't you so good at keeping track of things? Given the fact that I don't have an idea on how to find him yet, and the fact that none of you have an idea either, we can't exactly go anywhere with that. Now, if no one minds, I'll see myself out."

She started to walk out, but Ultra Magnus grabbed her servo with his claw hand. Everyone held their breath in anticipation. Terraclaw looked at Ultra Magnus, smirking, "I'd love to see what you do next. The wait is killing me."

"You knew about the agreement and you're only now telling us that you can't hold up your end of the bargain?" said Ultra Magnus, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you in the stockade right now."

"Because if you do, or at least try to, you'll not only incur my wrath, but that of Predaking as well, or whatever that goon calls himself."

"She has a point, sir," said Arcee. Ultra Magnus looked over at her, and then back at Terraclaw. Reluctantly, he released her servo and tuned to face her.

"Does this mean that you do not intend to help us locate Shockwave?"

"Oh, no," Terraclaw shook her helm, "No, I intend to contribute in any way possible to crush that glitch into rust. But what I'm telling you is that there's nothing I have that could help you find him at present. He's very good at leaving no loose ends when it comes to relocating. All of his computer systems are wiped and every stock of supply is transported out so it looks like there wasn't a spark that stood there."

"Wait, wait," interrupted Smokescreen, "If there are a whole lot more Predacons out there like you said, couldn't we just find them and have them take us to Shockwave?"

"It's not that simple, shorty. Not every Predacon has the privilege of speaking to Shockwave on important matters. You have what are called den masters who oversee entire… wait. _Wait._"

Terraclaw stopped talking and thought for a moment. Everyone watched her, wanting to know what she meant. A smile suddenly appeared on her faceplate and she went over and picked up a welder.

"Who oversee what?" Knock Out asked impatiently. Terraclaw walked over to an empty wall, "The best ideas and solutions only come two ways: either after a quick vent, or during an explanation. Fortunately, I've had both."

She started drawing something on the wall with the welder. Everyone came around to see what it was.

"You," she pointed at Smokescreen, "What was your name again?"

"Smokescreen."

"Okay, Smokescreen, this is why you can't talk to just any Predacon and expect him to know everything." She drew a square on the wall. "Think of this as a sector somewhere on the planet. It would be someplace that is far from here and completely ruined. When you think about it, that's about every other place outside of this city."

She drew four circles in the square. "Now, think of these as areas where Predacons live together, underground of course. They live in dens, which number four total in each sector. They are assigned different jobs according to size, strength, agility, blah, blah, blah. Those are what you might call 'common Predacons.' Unlike Shockwave's place of work, they don't move around. It's too much work to even try."

Then she drew a Predacon symbol above the square. "Then you have a den master, who looks over the entire sector of Predacons. He makes sure that everyone follows orders, gets enough rations, and is the only one who actually talks to Shockwave. They're often times the more intelligent, or someone who Shockwave feels like he can trust enough to know what he's talking about."

"How many of these sectors are there?" Bumblebee asked. Terraclaw thought for a moment, "There could be about five now, with the rate Shockwave is spewing out new embryos."

"And how many are in each?" asked Arcee. Terraclaw sighed, "Each one could easily hold a hundred, maybe even a hundred and fifty. You see why it's complicated now?"

All helms nodded in agreement. Their hope of finding Shockwave before he could launch a full- scale attack on them was growing more and more faint. Bumblebee thought for a moment, and then looked back at Terraclaw.

"But it's not impossible to find a den master and try to persuade them to help us?" he asked. She shrugged, "Not impossible, but dangerous. I don't know who could be in charge of the new sector, or who Shockwave found to replace the sector I looked over."

"But we could find someone to trust in there?"

She nodded. Bumblebee smirked and looked back at Ultra Magnus, "We could put together teams to search each of these sectors, find whoever is in charge, and get them to lead us to Shockwave. One Predacon and one Autobot, so they know they can trust us and we'll have someone to explain what's going on. Good idea?"

Ultra Magnus looked back at the diagram on the wall, and then nodded, "Excellent plan, soldier. The four of you and myself will pair up with each of the Predacons, in which we will search the planet for these 'dens,' assuming that we can trust whoever is in charge of them."

Terraclaw dropped the welder on the floor, "Great, I gave you a plan, you have a way to stop an attack, now can I leave?"

Ultra Magnus nodded, "We will send you a Ground-Bridge to Darkmount. Arcee, would you show her the way."

Arcee nodded and motioned Terraclaw to follow her. On their way out, Terraclaw looked over at Knock Out and hissed at him. He jumped back in surprise and she laughed. When they were gone, everyone looked back at the diagram. Smokescreen looked at Bumblebee, "Five sectors? A hundred in each? How many warriors do we have now?"

"More than that," replied Bumblebee.

"Then why do you sound so unsure?" asked Bulkhead. He had a point. They had the advantage in numbers, but the total of five hundred Predacons was unsettling, especially since they were still growing. And who was to say that their advantage would be enough, if they didn't find Shockwave in time?

* * *

In the lower levels of Darkmount, Predaking and Skylynx were making their way down to the ground level, discussing what Dreadfire had said about finding Energon in the most barren of places, or so he claimed. Predaking walked with his servos clasped behind him and listened to the points Skylynx made, although thorough complaining sounded like a better term at the moment.

"My lord, you can't honestly think that that dimwit would be able to find anything out here. I have spent cycle after cycle searching for the faintest traces of Energon, and what have I found? Barely enough to keep our sparks aflame."

"And you think you are the only capable one of finding Energon among us?"

"I have done my best to provide what I can for you and Darksteel. If I were to make a suggestion, we could look past the borders to see what Energon we could find. It would be out of the Autobots' way, and they would never have to know."

Predaking nodded. It sounded as though that had become their only option now. Before he could add another point, the sound of a Ground-Bridge opening entered his audio receptors. Not far ahead of them, they could see the open green portal swirling. After a moment, a figure stepped through and the portal closed. Predaking didn't recognize the figure at first, but then realized that it was the Predacon femme, Terraclaw. She looked around at the ruins of the fortress and eventually glanced in their direction.

"Room for one?" she called out. Predaking raised his brow as Terraclaw came up to them. She placed her servos on her hips and smirked at him.

"So you're the self-proclaimed leader of the Predacon race?" she mocked, "I figured you'd be taller, and not so old looking."

"How dare you speak to our king in such a manner!" Skylynx snapped. Predaking growled and held his servo in front of Skylynx. He stopped talking immediately and Predaking turned back to Terraclaw. She was still smiling at him, glaring into his optics with a sort of mischievousness. He glared back at her, "From here on out, it does not matter to me what you decide to do or say to the others in your own time, but I am your king, and you will show any amount of respect you can possibly scrap together and muster. Are we clear?"

Terraclaw pursed her lips together and said nothing. The sound of wings flapping echoed behind them. They turned and saw Darksteel flying over toward them. He landed on the ground and transformed into his robot mode. For some reason, he was covered with black splotches. He ran over and quickly bowed.

"Your Highness," he stood up, "You'll never believe this. Me and Dreadfire flew out into the plains and started digging and-"

He stopped when he realized that the third person was Terraclaw. He stared at her with wide optics for a moment, not saying anything. Then he gave her a toothy grin and reached down for her servo.

"At long last, the beautiful femme comes to join her kind. Lovely to meet you," he brought her servo up and kissed the top of it. Terraclaw narrowed her optics at him and smiled back. When he started to lower her servo, she ejected her wrist blade on her arm and held to tip against his neck cables.

"Ah, what the-?!" Darksteel held his servos up as Terraclaw traced the tip of the blade up his throat and under his chin. She clenched her denta and growled, "Keep your filthy paws to yourself. This is the last time I'm gonna be this nice. Got that?"

Darksteel nodded and she released him. He gasped for air, holding his neck cables. Predaking rolled his optics, "What was it you were saying, Darksteel?"

"I, um, uh, well," he stammered, "I-I thought you would want to see this. Me and Dreadfire have been digging for a while in this hole, and we think it could lead to Energon, at least we hope."

"What? How is that possible?" Skylynx said. Predaking looked out at the horizon, and then back at Darksteel. "Show me."

Darksteel transformed into his beast mode and took off into the air. Predaking, Skylynx and Terraclaw did the same and followed him to where he and Dreadfire had been digging. The hole now was wider and looked deeper, and the dirt pile adjacent to it was larger as well. The Predacons all landed near the edges of the hole and transformed into their robot modes.

"Well, you've certainly been busy," said Terraclaw, examining the hole. Predaking walked over to the dirt pile. He had never seen material such as this on Cybertron before. It looked and felt organic, such as that found on Earth. He scooped up some in his servo and felt it between his digits. This dirt was gray and felt somewhat slimy. He looked back over at the hole and saw Dreadfire climbing up to the edge, covered in the same dirt as Darksteel was.

"So, what have you idiots been up to?" Terraclaw said as Dreadfire hoisted himself to his pedes. When he realized that she was there, he ran over and picked her up in the air, laughing and hugging tightly.

"Okay! Okay!" Terraclaw squeaked, "Nice to see you too! No more hugging, please!"

Dreadfire nodded and set her back on her pedes. He turned back to the hole he'd been digging in, "Check it out! We found a hot spot in the middle of the field. You can just smell the Energon from down there!"

Predaking walked over to him, "I do not understand. Explain this to me."

Terraclaw looked up at him, "It's simple, really. If you dig deep enough, sometimes you can find an Energon spring, completely unnoticeable until you get close enough."

"We don't know how big it could be," added Darksteel, "But maybe we won't have to scrounge anymore."

"Is this true?" Predaking turned back to Dreadfire and Terraclaw. Dreadfire looked back at the hole, "Only one way to find out."

He transformed into his beast mode and leaped back into the hole. They heard a thump as he landed on the bottom and started digging again. It was dark, so they couldn't see what was happening, but after only a few minutes, they heard a screech and the sound of transforming. In no time, Dreadfire popped back up at the edge in his robot mode, only this time, he was covered in both gray dirt and a blue gooey substance. He had a big grin on his faceplate, "It started leaking right from the side. It's filling up the bottom too!"

Predaking kneeled down and brushed some of the goo off of Dreadfire with his servo. He felt it between his digits, and tasted it with his glossa. It tasted different than what he was used to, more electrified and less concentrated. But no matter. The taste caused a smirk to appear on his faceplate. They finally had their own Energon well.

"Yes!" Darksteel jumped in the air like an excited sparkling, and pulled Skylynx up to his pedes to join him. Terraclaw helped Dreadfire up and shook his arm excitedly. They whooped and cheered in victory. Predaking stood up and looked down in the well. Sure enough, a faint blue glow could be seen at the bottom, rising very slowly. His expression suddenly became stern.

"Alright, now wait!" he shouted. They stopped cheering and looked over at him in confusion. He pointed at each of them, "Not one word of this to the Autobots, is that understood?"

They looked at the well and then back at him, nodding in agreement.

**You know those moments when just one scene or line absolutely prevents you from writing? I really hate those moments. **

**Thank you those who have kept up with this. I've also been wrapped up with news about Robots in Disguise coming in March, and waiting for months is just making the anticipation worse. My current wishes for the show is that Thunderhoof has a mafia-Al Capone voice and that Will Friedle makes his Bumblebee-as-a-kid voice sound like his Ron Stoppable voice. And maybe Sideswipe and Knock Out can have a Glamor-Off :) **

**Upcoming chapters of this story are gonna be pretty important, so just bear with me! Thanks again and leave a review! **


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